Capt. William May Hodges, USN (Ret.) died in his sleep Feb. 25, 2004, in Oak Harbor, a place he loved dearly. The cause was complications from prostate cancer.

William was born in Okolona, Miss., Nov. 26, 1916, to William D. and May Lou (Hawkins) Hodges. He received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was graduated in June 1940, going directly to the Pacific Fleet. He was on the battleship West Virginia when it was sunk at Pearl Harbor.

William went through flight training in Dallas, Texas, in 1943, and went on to be a gunnery instructor in Florida. He flew Wildcats and later P2V’s.

Among his duties in the Navy, William served as executive officer of Whidbey Island Naval Air Station Whidbey Island from February 1957 to April 1959. He loved his time on Whidbey, where he was instrumental in forming a duck-hunting facility on Maylor Point. He retired in June of 1965. Always wanting to come back, he returned to Whidbey Island in 1997, after his wife, Nancy, retired from her job as a librarian in 1996.

William is survived by his wife Nancy at the family home, Oak Harbor; by two sons, William Clark Hodges (Sharon), a deputy with the Broward County Sheriff’s Department of Deerfield Beach, Fla., and Douglas John Hodges (Martha Lynn), a lighting consultant of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and a daughter, Susan May Hodges, on the staff of the University of Florida Medical Center, Gainsville, Fla., who lives in Alachua, Fla. Three grandsons and two great-grandsons also survive.

Graveside committal services will be held in the Oddfellows Cemetery, Okolona, Miss. with military honors provided by the U. S. Navy. Arrangements are under the direction of Burley Funeral Chapel.