HODGSON

– Tom Hodgson died on Nov. 29, 2014, at Maple Creek.   Predeceased by his father in 1966, his mother in 1983, also his sister Gladys (Jones), and brothers-in-law Rene Piquard, Dave Parker, and Ross Jones, he is survived by his wife, Evelyn, son David, and daughter Janis, his sisters Dorothy Piquard of Eastend and Rosa Parker of Broadview, aunts Helena Evans and Gertrude Newby, and nieces, nephews, and cousins.    
Tom was born in 1934 to Tommy and Ellen (Newby) Hodgson, and lived most of his life on the home place.  He and his three sisters rode horse back to school at Crossfell. In the \’50s, for four summers Tom ran a combine on a farm at Hazenmore, worked briefly on the old Wylie ranch, and also spent a few weeks with a road crew.  Most of his time was spent helping his father.
In 1960, he and Evelyn Bowles were married.  Tom, with the help of neighbors, planned and built a small house, and Tom helped the electrician wire it, thereby beginning years of enjoying work on electrical projects.  Tom was able to add adjoining land to his father’s place, and changed from grain-based farming to cattle and grass.  Milking cows and dealing with pigs and chickens were not for Tom.   He kept horses for feeding cows until the 1980s but Tom was always “hands-on” with each new piece of equipment.  In the \’60s, he got a welder, and day or night he enjoyed the challenge of repairing, remodelling or inventing equipment.  He enjoyed the visit when others came for repair jobs.  When a new bale wagon didn’t work, he and Eugene Eckart cut the frame in two, and successfully welded in extensions. Over the years David took on more of the farm work, but Tom liked to run the seeder, swather, and combine.
In 2011, a Hodgson family reunion was held at the home place, 100 years since Tommy Hodgson homesteaded there.  That fall, Tom and Evelyn bought a house in Maple Creek, Tom’s “winter camp,\” but they spent summers on the Bench.
Tom’s life reflects the changes from horse-powered farming in the lean years of the \’30s to tractors, combines and trucks; from oat bundles to small round bales, square bales, big round bales; from heavy lifting to hydraulics and “get the loader to do that;\” from hand-pumped water, burning wood, coal-oil lamps and outdoor plumbing to electricity for everything. Snowblowers changed life on the Bench, and Tom enjoyed clearing roads, especially with the company of the boys from West Bench Colony.  
The phone kept him in touch with his sisters and daughter Janis and often with nieces, nephew and cousins.  Business in town always included a visit with the local businessmen.  As David took over more of the work on the farm Tom developed a circle of phone friends. On Dec. 5, the family enjoyed an afternoon of visiting with relatives and friends as Tom would have enjoyed.  
In lieu of flowers the family suggests donations to the South West Intregrated Health Care Facility in Maple Creek.  
To email an expression of sympathy you may visit www.gonebutnotforgotten.ca.
Binkley\’s Funeral Service, Maple Creek and Leader, in charge of arrangements. 306-662-2292