Archdeacon Valentine Hodge, formerly of Little Dix, Anguilla, was delighted to be back home on a short working visit, a few days ago, accompanied by his Barbados-born wife, Ouida.

“As I moved around the island, I have met many of my past students, some of whom remembered all my idiosyncrasies in the classroom and it was so nice to have seen them again. Some of them have families of their own and are also in prominent positions in the Anguillian society,” said Archdeacon Hodge. “It is nice to be able to take some credit for that.”

A former teacher at the Road Primary School, the top cleric resides at Taylor’s Range, Basseterre, St. Kitts where he took up his appointment in September last year after serving in Antigua as Priest and Canon for many years.

After graduating from the Valley Secondary School, he assumed a teaching appointment in 1962 at what was then the St. Johnston’s Village School in St. Kitts, now the Dr. William B. Connor School. He attended the Leeward Islands Teacher College in Antigua for two years. On graduation he was transferred to the Road School in 1966 and served there until 1968.
“I have fond memories of having been at the Road School, particularly when we had moved to the new buildings following the passage of hurricane Donna,” he recalled. “That was a bit of pioneering work really, settling in those new buildings and new surroundings.”

He completed his teaching career in 1968 and began theological studies at Codrington College in Barbados to train for the Anglican Priesthood. He spent three years there and then moved on to the United Theological College of the West Indies, where he was among candidates in training from eleven denominations. He was ordained in July 1972 at St. George’s, Basseterre, when he did his final year in the Bachelor of Theology programme, having earlier obtained the L.Th. at Codrington.

In July 1973 he took up an appointment in St. Kitts where his responsibility included St. Ann’s, Sandy Point and St. Thomas, Middle Island. He said: “Middle Island was the first parish in the Caribbean where English priests came out in 1625. St. Kitts was colonised in 1623 and there is a lot of historic importance at St. Thomas where Sir Thomas Warner’s tombstone lies and so I was pleased to serve there for six and a half years.

“I lived in Sandy Point but I also served at St. Thomas, Holy Trinity at Palmetto Point, St. Mary’s, Dieppe Bay as well as St. Paul’s. Then I was transferred from that parish to Antigua in 1979. I served there for 24 years in two parishes: St. Philip, where I served for eight and a half years and at St. Luke where I served for fifteen and a half years. So my memories of Antigua continue to be ever present in my mind because it has been a long time. I was transferred to St. Kitts in 2003 as Archdeacon and Parish Priest of St. George’s with St. Barnabas.”

As Archdeacon, he assists Bishop Errol Brooks in the administration of the diocese. His area of responsibility extends to eight territories: St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St. Maarten, Saba, Statia, St.Barths and Aruba. His job is to look at the records, visit the church buildings, parish halls and rectories and report the condition of the structures to the Bishop and the Synod for any necessary remedial action. His just-ended visit to Anguilla was part of his inspection work which he combined with conducting the service at St. Mary’s on Sunday, June 20.

Archdeacon Hodge, though younger than the others, is the first of a family of four Anglican priests. His other brothers in the priesthood are Vincent in Virginia in the United States, Menes in Anguilla and Irad in St. Maarten.

He and his wife, who were married in December 1973 have two children. David works at Sandals Resorts in Antigua and Diana has just completed her first year at Leeds Metropolitan University in Yorkshire, where she is studying Business Information Management, a combination of business and information technology.

“We are really proud of them and we wish them all that is good,” said Archdeacon Hodge on Fathers’ Day.

Archdeacon and Mrs. Valentine Hodge

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