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‘The ultimate Southern gentleman’: Retired Muscogee County Sheriff Gene Hodge dies
September 28, 2018 03:45 PM
Retired Muscogee County Sheriff J.E. “Gene” Hodge, who led the sheriff’s office for almost 20 years, has died.
He was 85.
Hodge was appointed sheriff in April 1980, upon Sheriff Jack Rutledge’s death, and voters repeatedly elected him afterward until he retired in August 1999 to lead the internal affairs office of the Georgia Department of Corrections, a job offered him by longtime friend Jim Wetherington, then the corrections commissioner. Wetherington, who long served as Columbus police chief and later was elected mayor, confirmed Friday that Hodge had passed away at his home.
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William T. "Bill" Dawson (1952)
It's tough to read about the demise of a fellow classmate - even one you haven't seen in a number of years.
So it is with Gene Hodge. It was a long, long time ago that we roamed the halls of Baker together (let's see now, it's 2018, and we graduated in 1952. Golly gee, that's 66 years!), but I remember him well. As do most of us in that class so long ago remember each other. Our numbers, though, are surely dwindling.
Farewell, Gene. I cherish your memory.
-Bill Dawson, Baker 1952