By Gemma Handy
She was a visionary and driving force behind what would later become one of the brightest jewels in the nation’s tourism crown.
Patricia Hodge – affectionately known as Patsy – was integral in making Shirley Heights Lookout a staple on every visitor’s must-do list, and helping place the then young country firmly on the world map.
Hodge died on March 15, the day before her 84th birthday, and was laid to rest last Friday.
St Stephen’s Anglican Church in Glanvilles – where she had long been a regular devotee – was packed to bursting with members of the vast Hodge family, along with those from her adopted families of the Shirley Heights crew and the National Parks Association.
Luminaries in attendance included Parks Commissioner Ann Marie Martin, former Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer and Senator Johnathan Joseph.
For more than four decades Shirley Heights Lookout’s Sunday evening party has attracted holidaymakers, who flock to enjoy live music from the Halcyon Steel Orchestra as the sun sets over the famous panorama of English and Falmouth harbours.
Fittingly, mourners arrived for Hodge’s funeral to the sounds of Halcyon playing John Lennon’s iconic hit ‘Imagine’.
Hodge’s business acumen was credited with transforming the historic venue into a thriving enterprise, along with her late brother Russell, and third shareholder Eddie Emmanuel.
The restored military outpost opened as a business on November 1 1981, the same day that Antigua and Barbuda became an independent nation.
Few initially saw the potential the complex had, Hodge’s niece Kathy David told the service. Today there is no denying that legacy, built on the family’s blood, sweat and tears, David added.
Hodge herself was always on hand to welcome guests, wearing her signature red lipstick and broad, gap-toothed smile.
Remarks were also forthcoming from Hodge’s younger sister Valerie, Shirley Heights’ proprietor, who spoke of Hodge’s kind heart, appreciation of classical music, and her propensity for showing love through her cooking.
Food was said to be Hodge’s language of love, most notably her acclaimed rice pudding.
Valerie Hodge remembered her sister’s audacious spirit too.
“At 21, she moved to Barbados to live and work for an advertising and publicity company. She was very adventurous for a young woman in those days,” she told Observer.
Hodge, a former Antigua Girls’ High School student, also lived in Boston for a while, along with Canada where she worked for the Antigua and Barbuda Department of Tourism.
Her experience managing the Copper and Lumber Store Hotel, along with Buccaneer Cove in Dickenson Bay, would prove invaluable to making Shirley Heights Lookout the international success story it is today.
“Patsy provided the context that could make things happen,” Valerie Hodge added.
The funeral service, that Hodge herself planned years earlier, saw other musical tributes including a rendition of Bob Marley’s ‘One Drop’ by the Survivors Band, featuring Hodge’s only child, daughter Tamara.
Hodge’s final resting place is in the grounds of the church she attended for so many years.