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Olive Ireland Hodges

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Olive Ireland Hodges
A white woman in an oval frame, wearing a dress with a pleated yoke and high collar
Olive Ireland Hodges in 1910
BornJanuary 21, 1877
West Virginia, United States
DiedJanuary 25, 1964 (aged 87)
Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
OccupationMissionary educator

Olive Ireland Hodges (Japanese: オリヴ・ハジス, romanized: Orivu Hajisu; January 21, 1877 – January 25, 1964) was an American Methodist missionary teacher in Japan. From 1904 to 1938, she was principal of the Yokohama Eiwa Girls' School.

Early life and education

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Hodges was born in Buckhannon, West Virginia, the daughter of James Fife Hodges and Eliza Cummings Ireland Hodges. Her father taught school and was a farmer and stock dealer.[1][2] She earned a teaching certificate from Huntington State Teachers' School in 1893, and attended Peabody Normal College in Tennessee.[3] She completed a bachelor's degree at West Virginia University during a furlough from 1908 to 1910.[4][5] She also studied at Garrett Bible Institute, and in 1931 was a member of the International Institute of Teachers College, Columbia University.[6]

Career

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Hodges briefly taught mathematics in Morgantown, West Virginia as a young woman. In 1902, she became a missionary teacher in Japan.[7] After training and language classes, she was director of the Shinsei Kataban Kindergarten in Nagoya for her first year, then from 1904 to 1938, she was principal of the Yokohama Eiwa Girls' School.[8] She attended the 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, and toured in Greece, Turkey, Syria and Egypt with a group of other conference attendees.[9] She oversaw the school's expansion into newer buildings and broader programming, as well as its recovery from the Great Kantō Earthquake in 1923. She spoke to church groups while she was in the United States for furlough in 1932 and 1933,[10][11][12] and in 1939.[13]

During World War II, she was detained for a year as an enemy alien, then returned to the United States on the M.S. Gripsholm.[14] She worked with Japanese Americans in the years after the war, helping them find housing and employment in Washington, D.C. after their own wartime incarceration. She returned to Japan in 1950, for an anniversary event at her old school. She stayed in Japan, living in Chigasaki, Kanagawa. She spoke to a women's church group in Idaho in 1954.[15]

In 1940, Hodges received a medal from Emperor Hirohito, in recognition of her years of service.[16]

Personal life

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Hodges's niece, Helen Virginia Barns, was also a missionary teacher in Japan. Hodges died from a heart attack in 1964, at the age of 87, in Chigasaki.[17]

References

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  1. ^ Cutright, William Bernard (June 2009). The History of Upshur County, West Virginia: From Its Earliest Exploration and Settlement to the Present Time. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 479. ISBN 978-0-8063-4635-9.
  2. ^ Who's who in Japan. Who's who in Japan office. 1911. p. 40.
  3. ^ George Peabody College for Teachers (1898). General Catalog. George Peabody College for Teachers. p. 93.
  4. ^ West Virginia University Bulletin. West Virginia University. 1923. p. 37.
  5. ^ The Monticola yearbook (West Virginia University 1910): 65.
  6. ^ "Student Group Visits Noted Watkins Glen". Star-Gazette. 1931-11-06. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-01-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Miss Olive I. Hodges Leaves Today for the Mission Field of Japan". The Pittsburgh Gazette. 1902-09-01. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-01-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Mission Work in Japan is Topic". The Seattle Star. 1944-08-19. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-01-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Hodges, Olive Ireland (December 15, 1910). "A Visit to the Mission Lands of the Near East". Methodist Protestant Herald. 17 (5): 15 – via Internet Archive.
  10. ^ "Olive Hodges Talks Sunday in Uniontown". The Evening Standard. 1932-07-09. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-01-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Miss Olive I. Hodges Will Speak Here". The Morning Herald. 1933-06-01. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-01-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Mission Society to Have Guest Talker at Meet; Miss Olive Hodges, Japan Missionary". The Evening Standard. 1932-07-02. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-01-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Texas Conference Rally MP Church Held at Tehuacana". Corsicana Daily Sun. 1939-03-16. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-01-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Pittsburghers Held by Japs Coming Home on Gripsholm". The Pittsburgh Press. 1943-10-14. p. 15. Retrieved 2023-01-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Retired Missionary to Address Baptists". The Idaho Statesman. 1954-05-05. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-01-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Hirohito Gives Teacher Medal; Sister of Teaneck Woman Honored in Tokyo". The Record. 1940-11-11. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-01-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Olive Hodges Dies in Japan". Morgantown Post. February 10, 1964. p. 1. Retrieved January 28, 2023 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
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