Laurel H. Hodgden, age 96, passed away peacefully in her sleep on October 13th at home.
Laurel was born March 25, 1928 in Ames, Iowa to Ava & Victor Hessler. At age five she arrived at kindergarten, the teacher said “You can already read! You have to go to First Grade!” When she was 10 the family moved to Lawrence, KS, where she skipped another grade. In High School, she met Lee Hodgden, who was 3 years older, but they ended up in several of the same classes. Lee and Laurel were married June 26, 1945 — right before he had to get on a troop ship heading for Japan — fortunately the ship was still docked in Pearl Harbor on V-J Day — So Lee didn’t see any warfare. He used his part of the occupation to help Japanese people. During WWII Ava & Laurel ran a daycare center for the children of workers at the Sunflower Munitions plant. In 1948 Laurel and Lee both finished their Bachelor’s at KU, then headed for Cambridge, where Laurel received her EDM degree from Harvard and Lee his Architect/Engineering degree from MIT.
Laurel and Lee then taught at Raleigh & Chapel Hill in NC, where they became good friends with the famous “Bucky” Fuller. Laurel then got her PhD in Child Psychology from the University of Texas. In 1954 Lee got a Fulbright scholarship to go to Finland to study with Alvar Aalto, famous Finnish Architect who had been his Professor & friend at MIT. Laurel taught weaving at the Helsinki Fiber Arts School. They both loved the beautiful country & people of Finland. In 1960 in Eugene, OR, they named their daughter Kyllikki after their good friend Kyllikki Salmenhaara, famous Finnish Ceramist. In 1961 they moved to Ithaca, NY and settled in beautiful Forest Home, overlooking Fall Creek.
In the ’50s cheaper prices allowed them to travel to many interesting locations — all over Europe and Scandinavia including visiting the Saami reindeer herders north of the arctic circle in Finland. They also drove all over Mexico and climbed 3 ancient pyramids. In the ’60s they repeated those trips with Kyllikki, so she could have the same exciting experiences.
Laurel taught Child Psychology at Duke, University of Oregon, Rutgers and Cornell University. Following this, she served for many years as the child psychologist to the Tompkins County Pre-K and Head Start programs. (Earlier, Laurel was on the original committee that invented Head Start. Laurel also taught the first group of Headstart teachers who came from all over NY State to study with her). Laurel wrote the book – “School Before Six, a Diagnostic Approach”, a popular 2 volume guide for pre-k and kindergarden education, it was reprinted twice. She also started The Daycare Council (now called Child Development Council).
Laurel and Kyllikki went to 2 Star Trek conventions in NYC in ’75 & ’76 and volunteered for 32 years sorting the Children’s Section at the Friends of the Library Booksale. Laurel traveled to Boulder, Colorado many times to visit her parents, and made several trips to the Oregon Coast, which she loved dearly.
Laurel is survived by daughter Kyllikki Inman, son-in-law Tom Inman, grand-daughter Kate Inman, a sister — Jo Battuello, nieces: Laurel Battuello (named for her), Amy Battuello Price, and nephews: Brian (Frances) Battuello & Evan (Cheryl) Hodgden. Also Tom’s sister Linda Inman Silber, and her son, Aaron (Aries) Silber.
The family wishes to thank Dr. Ann Costello and her staff for their amazing care for 40 years. We also wish to thank all of the loving caregivers that made it possible for Laurel to remain at home after her stroke… Judy, Lorene, Lori, Lydia, Mary, Molly and Theresa.
If you wish to honor Laurel, she would like it if you would: put up a feeder for birds & squirrels, plant flowers for the pollinators, adopt a homeless pet – cat, bird, or rodent, do something nice for someone, and buy yourself a bouquet and take time to stop and smell the flowers.
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