At age 90, Merrill Hodgden’s schedule is somewhat flexible.
“I can meet with you Monday, but 3 to 5 are my office hours,” he said that morning.
When our 2 o’clock interview drifted past 3, Merrill said I could join him for his next appointment. We drove separately to his office. Inside were his longtime friends, Bob Jewell, David Ensminger, John Hillbrant and Steve Traw with others still to come. And yes, we were at McDonald’s.
Merrill served as Iola Fire Chief from 1980 to 1983. Since then, he’s continued to call Iola home, though his job as a safety inspector primarily for the nuclear power plant industry has taken him from coast to coast.
He retired at age 80.
“I was at a plant up in Nebraska and they threw me a big birthday party,” he said. “I got to thinking that maybe it would be a good time to quit while I was still in good shape.”
Structure, companionship and faith are what keep Merrill focused on today.
That’s important, he said, “because my thoughts increasingly drift to the past.”
And just like yesterday, Merrill can recall significant events.
It began when Merrill left home before graduating from high school in Kanopolis to join the Army.
There wasn’t much to keep him there.
“My dad had lost the farm during The Depression during the 1930s.”
“During those WPA days, he became a stonemason. He cut stone for more than a hundred bridges just in Ellsworth County.”
As a youth, Merrill was hired out on farms across Western Kansas and Southeastern Colorado.
The Army was Merrill’s ticket to a different life. His first task was to get his general equivalency degree. “I passed with flying colors,” he said.
