Barbara Hodges

Hodges, Barbara, 85, homemaker extraordinaire, died December 5, 2011. She was born in Wichita, Kansas on December 6, 1925. She was preceded in death by her parents C.C. and Grace Sutton, by her husband Art and by her brother Robert Sutton.

Barbara is survived by her daughters, Judy Hoyt, Wichita, Jan (Wayne) Craddock, Charlotte, N.C. and Jill Hodges, Murfreesboro, TN. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Laurie (Guinn) Walker, Jennifer (Donn) Armstrong, John (Elissa) Knolla, Tim (Susan) Knolla, Sharon (James) Hunter, Warren Craddock and 11 great grandchildren, Tim, Sunny, Jaelen, Taylor, Sierra, Drew, Lance, T.J., Daniel, Joshua and Joseph. She was expecting her first great-great grandchild, Max, in late December.

Barbara grew up in Wichita and went to East High and Wichita University. She met and married Art in Wichita where they raised their three daughters. Art's career took them to many parts of the country, including California, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Mississippi. Following retirement they returned to Wichita to be with family.

Barbara was known by her friends and family for her impeccable taste and appearance, and for her insistence upon using proper grammar (she herself would NEVER be caught between the "a" and the "t.") She very much enjoyed spending time with her friends, most of whom she had known since high school and college. She loved animals (especially her childhood companion Buster and her fourth "child" Zach), playing golf and bridge, hosting cocktail and dinner parties, having her daily glass of champagne and, most recently, walking and talking with her friends at the mall. Barbara attended Eastminster Presbyterian Church where she was a member of Ruth's Circle. She will be remembered by her daughters as the commander-in-chief, for her dry and quirky sense of humor, and for "The Look," and by her grandchildren as "one spit-fire of a grandmother."

The family would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the compassionate doctors and nurses at Wesley Hospital, most especially Nurse Betty and Nurse Uyen in CCU, for the kind and loving care which Barbara received on her last day, and to Dr. Rockley, Dr. Linck and Dr. Claiborne for their kind and empathetic care of the family.

Services will be held on Thursday, December 8 at 10:00 a.m. at Lakeview Funeral Home. Gifts in Barbara's memory may be sent to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN or to the Kansas Humane Society, Wichita.