• About Eva Swan Hodge

     
    Eva Swan HodgeMr. Fred Hill, a former student of Eva Swan Hodge, came to our School Dedication Day on May 19, 1988. His speech was as follows.

    On this very special day, I asked myself, "What can I say that will motivate inquiring minds like yours?" So, I thought, "Well, when we are exposed to successful people, it convinces us that if they can achieve, so can we. Somehow, knowing someone who has succeeded inspires us to succeed."

    Some people can look around at pictures on their walls at home and say, "I come from a good family, highly educated ... doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc., and I have a lot to live up to." Some can only pull themselves up by their bootstraps and go from there. So today I want to share some things I know to be true about Eva Swan Hodge, for whom your school was named.
     

    Eva Swan Hodge was born May 19, 1905, to the parents of Ken and Kate Swan in Hempstead, Texas. Her parents were farmers who raised cattle and specialized in growing the diamond watermelon. She was not wealthy economically, but very rich in her values. Eva Swan Hodge graduated from Prairie View A&M College and the University of Colorado, respectively, majoring in Home Economics. She taught at Fred Moore High School in the area of Home Economics. Her major concentration was clothing and textiles and cooking. In addition, she taught grammar and English literature.

    Students loved her for her tremendous counseling ability. She was empathetic and a great motivator, emphasizing praise instead of ridicule. The good things her students did were reinforced, therefore building self-esteem.

    During World War II, she supervised a "Victory Garden." Many items for consumption were difficult to get. Families had to have coupons to get certain things like shoes, sugar, milk, etc. Her leadership and ability at organizing and supervising families in raising gardens during this crisis in our history alleviated suffering and their productivity gave them self-worth.

    Eva Swan Hodge was inspired and lived by her favorite poem, Invictus.
     
    "Invictus" by William Hemsley
     

    Out of the night that covers me,

    black as the pit from pole to pole,

    I thank whatever gods may be

    for my unconquerable soul.

     

    In the fell clutch of circumstance

    I have not winced nor cried aloud.

    Under the bludgeonings of chance

    my head is bloody, but unbowed.

     

    Beyond this place of wrath and tears

    looms but the Horror of the shade,

    And yet the menace of the years

    finds and shall find me unafraid. 

     

    It matters not how strait the gate,

    how charged with punishments the scroll

    I am the master of my fate,

    I am the captain of my soul.