Jean Hodges (22 Sep 1918 - 28 Jan 2022)

Jean Hodges (nee Barber)

Originally from the Essex/ Suffolk border, the Barber family came to Hadleigh in the early 1900’s when my grandfather came to manage the greenhouses on the Salvation Army Colony.

I was born on 22nd September 1918, at number 2 Lawn Villas in The Avenue. My mother was Jane Annie and my father was Leonard Charles Frederick Barber. At that time my father was in the army and didn’t see me until I was a week old. My parents were Salvationists and we worshipped at The Citadel on the Colony. The family was complete with the birth of my sister Gwen, in 1920.

I started at the Hadleigh School and obtained a scholarship to attend St Bernard’s High School, a girls’ school run by Roman Catholic nuns in Westcliff. When I left St Bernard’s I started work at the Salvation Army Assurance Society in London.

My father was a farm accountant and had initially worked for the Salvation Army. He had an accident on a motorbike and badly broke his leg. As a result, he decided to worship at St James the Less Church as it was much nearer to home.

After the outbreak of WWII in September 1939, the staff of the Assurance Society were evacuated to Caversham, a suburb of Reading. In August 1941, I started training to become a Salvation Army officer at Denmark Hill in Camberwell. After the completion of my training, I was posted to New Southgate as a probationary Lieutenant. I then undertook several postings to Hertford, King’s Cross and Pentonville, before being promoted to Captain and appointed to Newington Green as the sole leader. I stayed there for 3 years before moving on to a small corps at Childs Hill near Hendon.

After the war I considered becoming a missionary, but the thought of Africa or China was a big step for someone whose only excursion outside this country was to Tintern Abbey in Wales. Instead, I went back to the family home at Lawn Villas and started to worship at Hadleigh Congregational Church. I then began working for the Ministry of Pensions at London Hill in Rayleigh, where I met a gentleman who was very keen on football - especially Southend United - and walking the dogs, my future husband, Ben Hodges.

In 1955, my family moved to Brookside in Beech Road, Hadleigh. The house had been built for my grandfather and it was where my father had grown up.

A year later, I married Ben at Hadleigh Congregational Church. We bought a bungalow in St Peter’s Road, Hockley, which had two acres of ground, where we grew vegetables and kept rabbits, pigeons, a few cats and some overwalked dogs.

Our son, John was born in September 1959, being quickly introduced to football - especially Southend United – and walking the dogs. I worshipped at Hockley Methodist Church where I was President of the Sisterhood for several years and helped with the charity bazaars and jumble sales.

As Ben retired from the Ministry of Pensions in 1977, John started work at the Bank of England.

My father died at the age of 94 in 1983. A wooden font cover was donated to St James the Less Church in his memory.

In 1986, we moved to the bungalow Bramerton Road and a couple of years later I was diagnosed with cancer, but it was treated successfully. Thereafter I began worshipping at Hockley United Reformed Church.

After 41 years of marriage, Ben died in 1997 at the age of 85 and it was around this time that I started knitting blankets for charity.

In October 2017, I moved into the Bradbury care home in Prittlewell, where I celebrated my 100th Birthday.

Maintaining the longevity in the family, my sister Gwen turned 100 in 202, but sadly passed away shortly afterwards.

Having started life with the on the Colony, moving to Bradbury completed the circle as it is also run by the Salvation Army. This was even more poignant at it overlooked the hallowed turf of Roots Hall and was only a quarter of a mile from where Ben was born.