Anna Jane Albright-Hodges

Anna Jane Hodges (f/k/a Albright, nee Bush), of Clayton, DE, passed away on Wednesday, May 4, 2016 at Pike Creek Manor Care Nursing Home, Wilmington, Delaware, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. Anna was also a breast cancer survivor. She was 81.

She was born on February 5, 1935 in Harrisburg, PA, the daughter of the late Harold Bush and Florence Bush (nee Cordes).

She was lovingly known by the nicknames Jane, Anna Banana, and Little Peanut. Prior to living in Clayton, Delaware, she formerly lived in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and New Castle County, Delaware.

Her first husband, John W. Albright, passed away in 1971 (married in Harrisburg, PA). She married her second husband, Claude Hodges, in 1972 at The Little Chapel, in Elkton, MD, but they always lived as a couple in Delaware.

Anna retired from the Diamond State Telephone Company (currently known as Verizon) and was instrumental in establishing the enhanced 911 system Delaware uses today. She resolved important anomalies in the project and helped name some of the roads that previously were only known as route numbers, which were hard for emergency personnel to find.

Anna made many sacrifices and provided the safety net that kept her vulnerable family of 5 together before and after her first husband passed away. Shortly after the birth of her youngest child, she learned how to drive and started her career at the phone company in 1968.

Early in their over 40 year marriage, Anna’s love and strength helped her 2nd husband overcome alcohol addiction and grow into the good husband and father he is today. She also helped her husband fulfil a dream of reconnecting with his natural children.

Anna helped her children and grandchildren overcome terrible losses in life, as well as proudly celebrated their many joyous accomplishments.

Anna loved her family and friends, loved her home, enjoyed traveling (especially to the beaches), liked to read, crochet (her blankets abound throughout our family), plant flowers, as well as sit on her porch enjoying the nice weather and watching the birds.

She doted on her grandchildren and was very proud of them! She attended school events, cheered sports teams and band performances, as well as proudly celebrated their high school and college graduations.

Anna and her neighborhood friend, Pearl were regularly spied in their rural Clayton neighborhood taking their daily 5 mile constitutional walk. Throughout her life, Anna held a deep faith in God. She attended church at Berean Baptist Church in New Castle, Delaware, for most of her adult life, and dearly loved her fellow parishioners. Anna supported her husband’s participation in the Kenton Ruritan Club.

Anna enjoyed walking around neighborhoods and checking out the homes, especially new neighborhoods with model homes. If the curtains were open, she would peek in from the street at the décor.

Anna would attend her grandson’s ball games with her daughter, Mary, and get so excited about the game, the other parents needed to beware. She would slap them on the back, stand up and clap in front of them, and perform other embarrassing acts of encouragement to support her grandsons. By the end of the games, though, she always made at least one new friend.

Anna loved seafood and going to dinner. Early in her middle daughter’s marriage, the couple took mom out to Shuckers restaurant in Dover for her birthday. She ordered a huge combination seafood platter and to the couple’s amazement, ate everything on her plate. Once, she went to an all-you-can-eat buffet and ate so much shrimp, her face flushed red with an allergic reaction to all the iodine.

Anna’s daughter-in-law, Donna, recalls her loving soul. If she introduced Anna to anyone, she would quickly get to know them and then ever after, she would ask how that person was doing. One day, she sat outside with Donna on a pretty afternoon and put her head on her shoulder. She said she was beginning to forget things and asked Donna to please not let her forget.

Anna hated traffic jams and would show up much later than necessary because she took the long way around to avoid the traffic. Her family would add ½ hour to the start time of an event to make sure she arrived on time.

Her daughter-in-law, Donna, remembers that Anna would always turn maps upside down to read them, and surprisingly, arrive at the correct destination.

In addition to her first husband and her parents, she was preceded in death by Grandchildren David (DJ) Albright, Kevin Forrest, and Hunter Cox, and a son-in-law, John W. Doherty.

Survived by her husband, J. Claude Hodges, Wilmington, DE (formerly of Clayton, DE); her children, Elizabeth Doherty (nee Albright), Middletown, DE, David Albright, and his wife, Donna, New Castle DE, Donna Forrest (nee Albright), and her husband, William, Wilmington, DE, and Mary Cox (nee Albright), Hartly, DE; Grandchildren: Scott Doherty, Florida, Kelli Vickers (nee Doherty), Georgia, Chris Albright, New Castle, DE, Amanda Bollinger (nee Albright), New Castle, DE, Michelle Forrest, Claymont, DE, Ryan Cox, San Diego, California, Megan Doherty, Middletown, DE, and Justin Cox, Hartly, DE; and 12 Great-grandchildren.

Services will be held 12:00 PM Thursday, May 12, 2016 at Matthews-Bryson Funeral Home, 123 West Commerce St., Smyrna, DE 19977, where friends may call at 11:00 AM. Interment will be in Sharon Hills Memorial Park, 2928 Sharon Hill Rd, Dover, DE 19904 directly after the memorial service at the funeral home. Services will be officiated by Pastor David Burman and Pastor Ronald Sordelet.

After the funeral service, folks can directly go to the reception if they are not going to the graveside service. They may also go after the graveside service.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to The Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition (111 West 11th St., Suite 3, Wilmington, DE 19801 1-866-312-DBCC, dbcc@debreastcancer.org) or the Delaware Alzheimer’s Association (Alzheimer's Association Delaware Valley Chapter, 399 Market Street, Suite 102, Philadelphia, PA 19106).

Arrangements are by Matthews-Bryson Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Smyrna, DE