James Chester Hodges

Mr. James Chester Hodges of Dothan passed away Saturday, April 16, 2022 at the age of 90.

Funeral services will be held at 11 A.M. Thursday, April 21, 2022 at Ward Wilson Funeral Home with Reverend Tim Willis officiating. Burial will follow in Wiggins Cemetery with Ward Wilson Funeral Home directing.

The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 10 to 11 A.M. Thursday, April 21, 2022, one hour prior to the service.

Jim’s dad died when Jim was only three and a half years old. Being the last child, he was raised by his mother and four sisters.

He joined the Navy at the beginning of the Korean War. He served for four years and settled in California.

At the age of 30-31, he became a LA City firefighter. He loved his job but didn’t care for the photographers and news reporters when they arrived at the scene of accidents, etc. Jim was there during the Watts riot in 1965 in LA and retired around 1978.

He was a member of Selma Baptist Church until he retired and returned to Dothan. His uncles called Jim “Jim-Ted or Jimmy.” He became a man very early in life. All his life he was busy doing work not much free play time. He never complained. He did what needed to be done. He loved God, prayed, but not demonstrative. He believed his prayers were between him and God.

May God forgive Jim’s transgressions and let him enter through the heavenly gates.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Chester Hodges and Lottie Brackin Hodges, sisters, Joan Harris, Kathryn Bachmann, Oneita Shirah, Lottie Sconyers, and brother, Shelton Hodges.

He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Esther Hodges and daughter, Debra Read (Ron), and several nieces and nephews.

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