Former U.S. Senator Kaneaster Hodges dies at 83

A funeral service for former U.S. Sen. Kaneaster Hodges Jr., will be held Tuesday (March 29) in his hometown of Newport. Hodges, 83, passed away March 23.

Hodges, a Democrat, was appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill the remainder of U.S. Sen. John McClellan’s term after he died in office in 1977. Hodges served until the term expired on Jan. 3, 1979, and never sought the seat during the subsequent election.

Judge and former prosecuting attorney Henry Boyce of Newport told Talk Business & Politics that he’d known Hodges for decades and that he was a pillar in the Delta community.

“It’s been my experience that he was a professional in business and politics. He truly cared about his community and he devoted a lot of time towards the betterment of his community,” Boyce said.

A longtime Methodist pastor and lawyer, Hodges became involved in politics during the 1970s. In 1972, he worked for McClellan’s campaign and later coordinated David Pryor’s gubernatorial race in eastern Arkansas in 1974. He was appointed as legislative secretary to Pryor in 1975.

After Boyce got his law degree, Hodges encouraged him to run for prosecuting attorney. Boyce credits Hodges for bolstering his political career, and after he was elected as prosecutor, he became a mentor.

The former senator was instrumental in forming the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission serving as chairman from 1974 to 1976 and he was a member of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission from 1976 to 1977. Following McClellan’s death in 1977, then-Gov. Pryor appointed him to fulfill the remaining portion of McClellan’s term. This appointment was widely endorsed with support from McClellan’s widow and others.

Hodges served as a trustee at Arkansas College, now Lyon College. He was a trustee and past chairman at the University of Arkansas and a trustee of Arkansas State University’s Newport campus. He was a former president of the Arkansas State University-Newport Charitable Foundation, Inc.

Hodges was awarded the Friend of Education Award by the Arkansas Education Association in 1978, Governor’s Distinguished Citizen Award, the McGeorge Award for Service to Agriculture, and Conservationist of the Year by the Arkansas Wildlife Federation all in 1979.

Hodges graduated from Newport High School in 1956. He attended Princeton University graduating cum laude in 1960. Afterwards, he entered Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University graduating magna cum laude in 1963.

While pastoring at two churches, he commuted to Boston University where he earned a second master’s degree in Pastoral Counseling. In the summer of 1964, he and his wife, Ruth Lindley Williams, moved to New York City where Hodges was a chaplain intern at Rikers Island Correctional Institution. He later graduated from the University of Arkansas Law School.

“He was a deeply religious man … he really cared about Newport, Arkansas,” Boyce said.