Judith Darden
Judith Hodges Darden wonderful mother, gifted teacher, trusting friend, devoted Motown fan and lifelong feminist - died Jan. 19, 2023, in Yorktown, Va.
She spent almost all of her 76 years in Norfolk and Virginia Beach and taught in the Virginia Beach school system for more than 40.
She was born Aug. 6, 1946, in Norfolk, the first child of Samuel Murray Hodges and Margaret Staton Hodges. She graduated from Princess Anne High School after volunteering - to the annoyance of her parents - for the presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy. She graduated from Mary Washington College with a toddler of her own, earned a Master's degree from Old Dominion University and began her career at Plaza Junior High School.
She became one of the first Calculus teachers in Virginia Beach and taught Advanced Placement classes at Green Run, Salem and Ocean Lakes high schools, although perhaps her greatest professional accomplishment was getting her son through college math courses. She kept hundreds of college recommendation letters that she wrote for students and was proud of her kids.
Along the way, she supported her many friends and cheered very loudly for her son and later her grandchildren at their events, occasionally with the help of a margarita she put in a thermos so no one would see. She became a fan of disco and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, her favorite character of which was suggested by the feathered boa in her closet. She loved to read and to watch Fred Astaire dance and Michael Jordan dunk and to listen to Michael Jackson and Levi Stubbs and Stevie Wonder sing.
She would tell you right now the best way to live is to find what makes you happy and pursue it. It's good advice.
The staffs of Harmony on the Peninsula and Medi Home Health and Hospice were loving and heroic. It's not possible to thank them enough.
As she wanted, she was cremated and her ashes will be spread where her parents took the family on fishing trips so many years ago. A memorial service will be held at a later date in Virginia Beach.
Perhaps the best way to honor her memory would be to support causes that were dear to her, such as Planned Parenthood, the ACLU or the Humane Society. If that isn't your kind of thing, then maybe put on Songs in the Key of Life and be kind to someone when no one is watching.
She is survived by her son, Brian Murray Root, and his wife, Kimberly Elizabeth Root, and grandchildren Margaret Elizabeth Root and Garrett Alexander Root; and her brother, Samuel Murray Hodges Jr., and his daughter, Lori Hodges.
She will live within us always.