Paul W. Hodson
1909 ~ 2010
Paul William Hodson died March 24, 2010, six weeks shy of his 101st birthday.He was born in the family home on Brigham Street, (East South Temple Street), in Salt Lake City on May 8, 1909 to John Thomas Hodson and Coralee Alvira Smith.
Paul served as a missionary in the LDS German-Austrian Mission from 1930 to 1933 where he witnessed the rise to power of Adolf Hitler which greatly impacted his future. Upon his return he attended and graduated from the University of Utah. The following summer, he visited his mentor and employer Wallace F. Bennett at Bennett Paint Company and asked to marry his secretary and borrow $1000 to attend Harvard. He and Shelley Holmes were married September 7, 1937 and immediately left for Springfield, Massachusetts where he earned his MBA degree. He continued his doctoral studies at Stanford University.
During World War II, he served on the University of Utah faculty and in the administration of the wartime campus and its soldier-training mission. In the final period of the war he was assigned by the War Department to the European Theater of Operations as chief of the Austrian team, Morale Division, of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey. He was the business vice president of the University of Utah during its postwar expansion in the 1950's and 1960's when the campus was re-designed and 30 major buildings and an equal number of minor buildings were funded and built. He then became the U's vice president of special projects and international relations. He filled U.S. State Department and other foreign consulting assignments in Venezuela, Mexico, Bolivia, Spain, Germany and England and chaired the U's faculty committee on international relations. The University's board of trustees gave him the title of vice president emeritus upon his retirement in 1973. Active in professional and civic affairs, he served as president of the Western Association of College and University Business Officers, and on the governing boards of several other organizations, including the National Association of College and University Business Officers, the Salt Lake Rotary Club, and Blue Cross of Utah. The U of U Alumni Association in 1974 gave him the Distinguished Alumnus Award. He was an active member of the Professors Emeriti Club, University of Utah; and the Monday Nighters, a conversation club from the University community.
Following retirement from the University, he developed a horse-oriented planned unit community in Sandy called the Dimple Dell Ranchettes. As chairman of Salt Lake County's citizens' advisory committee, he was active in the establishment of the 624-acre Dimple Dell Regional Park. His retirement activities included the writing and publishing of several books: Crisis on Campus, The exciting years of campus development at the University of Utah, Never Forsake, (The Story of Amanda Barnes Smith, Legacy of the Haun's Mill Massacre, My Several Lives (An Autobiography), and Insights Gained from Events Remembered.
An active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and devoted father, Paul always insisted that his greatest achievement was in marrying Shelley and, with her, raising a wonderful family of eight children, 29 grandchildren, 38 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.
Survivors include children, Susan Gunnarson (Lynn), Jeannie Kathleen Jones, Paul William "Bill" Hodson, Jr., Steven Holmes Hodson (Colleen), Jonathan Holmes Hodson (Cherie), Elizabeth Ann Hodson, and Robert Holmes Hodson (Marianne). He was preceded in death by his son, David Holmes Hodson; granddaughter, Debbie Nemelka Spotts; and grandson, Jon Nemelka.
A memorial service will be held Monday, March 29, 2010, at the Cottonwood Creek Stake Center, 1535 E. Creek Road (7830 S.) at 11:00 a.m. Following the service the family will greet visitors in the cultural hall.