Veda Wells Hodge
Brownwood, Brown County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Alumna, trustee, benefactress of Howard Payne College. Born in Rising Star; daughter of a pioneer Baptist minister. Had teaching career before her marriage to J. Howard Hodge, a Midland theatre and oil magnate. President, Texas Federation of Women's Clubs, 1949-1951. Has held division chairmanships, General Federation of Women's Clubs, an international organization. Member of the Advisory Board, Japan International Christian University. Past member, Advisory Group, President's White House Committee for Traffic Safety. A leader in West Texas civic life. Outstanding Women of Texas Series, 1967.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Veda Wells Hodge rose from a West Texas Baptist minister's household to national civic prominence in the mid-twentieth century. A teacher before her marriage into Midland's theater and oil wealth, she served as president of the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs from 1949 to 1951 and held leadership roles reaching from a national women's federation to advisory boards touching international education and White House traffic safety. She was recognized in the 1967 Outstanding Women of Texas series.
Why it matters
Her career shows how the women's club movement gave American women organized public influence in education, philanthropy, and policy decades before those doors opened widely elsewhere.
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Related people
- · Veda Wells Hodge
- · J. Howard Hodge
Themes & tags
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