Carolyn Hodgson

August 24, 1928 - November 29, 2013

Carolyn (Benson) Hodgson: August 24, 1928 - November 29, 2013 was probably one of the few people in the metropolitan area who remembered as a little girl walking that fabled two miles to a one-room schoolhouse through the snow and rain and then two miles home again. When she was a student at Hillsboro High School her walk was often through muddy fields and darkness in the winter to catch the bus. Despite these hardships, she loved school and was an honor student. Carolyn was born in Oregon City, but soon moved with her family to the Helvetia area of Washington County where she spent the rest of her life. In 1952 she married Thomas Hodgson, the boy next door. They celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary on June 14. They had two daughters, who were Carolyn's self-confessed best accomplishments. Though not very verbal about it, she gloried in their accomplishments and worried over their troubles. Carolyn had many interests. In the 1950s she was active in the Ladies Home Extension and met often with other rural homemakers to learn new crafts and hone domestic skills. In the 1960s she was a Girl Scout leader and PTA president at Skyline School. In the 1970s she was a school librarian and thoroughly enjoyed helping children discover the joy of reading. In the 1980s she and Tom retired to the family farm, built a vacation home in central Oregon and began traveling all over the western United States. In the 1990s they continued their travels and built a new home on the farm. For their last project in the early 2000s they bought and remodeled a beach cabin. Carolyn loved every growing thing, both plant and animal, and knew what each one needed to flourish. She had an innate sense of the goodness of man and always seemed bewildered at the news of human misconduct. A lover of local history and of Oregon in general, her conversations were always interesting. Carolyn was predeceased by her parents; Fred L. Benson and Ethel F. Benson and her brother, Robert L. Benson. She is survived by her husband Tom, daughters Charlotte Craig (Andrew) and Sharon Nauta (Frank), a sister, Helen Benson, two granddaughters, Megan Brooks and Kassaundra Meng and two great grandsons. A funeral service will be held for her on Friday, December 6 at 1:00 p.m. at Donelson Fir Lawn Memorial Center, 1070 West Main St., Hillsboro, Oregon. She will be laid to rest privately in Phillips Cemetery in Helvetia, where she will join three generations of her family. The family would like to thank Florina and Radu Capusan and their staff for the wonderful care and support Carolyn received over the past four years. There is no doubt that she is right now comforting a fallen angel.