HODNETT, RICHARD ARTHUR March 7, 1925 – March 18, 2019 Richard Arthur Hodnett died peacefully on March 18, 2019, surrounded by his family.
Richard (Dick) Hodnett was born in Toronto Western Hospital and was raised on a small farm at Christie Street and Saint Clair Avenue. When he was eighteen, Dick joined the rest of his generation answering the call of his country and enlisted in the Canadian Navy. He was a sonar operator on the Kamloops, a Corvette that accompanied supply convoys crossing the Atlantic. After the war Dick joined Bell Canada, where he would work for his whole career, mostly working in the early days of telecommunications and, at the end of his career, with The Bell consulting in Saudi Arabia.
Dick built the first house that he owned. The clerk at the building department told him that his house plans were ‘the worst he’d ever seen’ but it did not stop him. Later he built the family cottage in the Muskokas (a much more successful project), which he loved and at which he spent much time. He was happiest when working on the yearly to-do list of projects, taking special satisfaction from any job that involved climbing ladders and risking life and limb.
Dick fell in love with his beloved wife Gudrun (Goodie) while travelling for business as a regular on her Air Canada flights when she was a flight attendant. His persistence paid off and dinner turned into 58 years of happy marriage including ski trips to the alps, teaching ESL in Inco, China and going on safari to celebrate 50 years of marriage.
Dick was a model citizen and a proud Canadian and Torontonian; he would enthusiastically give directions to any tourist whether they needed them or not. He was a self-taught man, and an avid reader in a family of avid readers and his enthusiasm for reading and learning was contagious.
Dick took delight in any and all of his family’s accomplishments – he reacted with unqualified glee to a beginner’s skating performance, an assist in a hockey game, a top scoring Scrabble word, a university graduation, an Order of Canada appointment.
Dick, aka Derek, Pops, Dad, Grandpa, Babu will be sadly missed and joyfully remembered. He was one of a kind and he loved us well. Dick is survived by his wife Gudrun (nee Kieser), sons Christopher (Margo) and Mark (Fiona), daughter Sandra and grandchildren Casey and Maureen.
A gathering will be held for family.