TRIBUTE TO DALE HODGES
May 19, 1941 – December 31, 2023

Dale Hodges passed away peacefully on December 31, 2023 following a lengthy illness at the age of 82 years. Dale will be greatly missed by Yvonne, his wife of 52 years, family and friends. Dale was the longest serving member of Calgary City Council as the alderman for Ward 1 for 30 years from 1983-2013. Dale served with 5 mayors and over 50 aldermen. He also served on the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board for over 35 years. Prior to this he was a librarian in Calgary (1967-1983) including at the local Varsity Library before the construction of Nose Hill Library.

Dale was a dedicated public servant and played a key role in the preservation of Bowmont Park, Nose Hill Park, Baker Park, the Douglas Fir Tree Sanctuary, and Varsity Ravine Park. The eastern part of Bowmont Natural Environment Park was dedicated in 2019 as Dale Hodges Park in recognition of his hard work to transform the former gravel pit into the beautiful park it is today. The park won the 2021 Award of Excellence from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects.

Other highlights during his tenure on Council were the extension of LRT to the northwest, the 1988 Winter Olympics, countless planning studies, and numerous major transportation and recreational projects. One of his last motions to be adopted by Council was to change the name of elected representatives from Alderman to Councillor, a more gender-neutral term.

Dale was well known for his encyclopedic knowledge and amazing archivist abilities. He could find virtually any document among his vast collection of papers, which occasionally included documents City Administration had misplaced. He was a fiscal hawk and consistently had the lowest expense claims on Council. His fight against the Hell’s Angels Clubhouse in Bowness led to a plot to blow up his house with the perpetrators serving jail time as a result. Dale was very supportive of all the communities and residents in Ward 1 and went to bat for them on many issues over the years.

Most people are unaware of how far Dale’s commitment to his constituents extended. In the late 80’s there was a problem with the roadway between the Greenwood Village mobile home park and Belvedere Parkway School making it unsafe for children to walk to school. The City could not build a proper pathway fast enough so out of his own personal funds, Dale purchased a yellow school bus and hired a bus driver to transport the children in the park to and from school for over a year until completion of the road improvements.

Dale and Yvonne lived in Bowness 1972-2016. Their home was badly damaged in the flood of 2013 which was a few months before Dale retired from City Council. They lived in Parkdale 2016-2021 and then bought a house in Varsity which has been their home since then.

A service celebrating Dale’s life will be held January 13 at Parkdale United Church. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Dale Hodges Graduate Scholarship in Political Science

Submitted by Jo Anne Atkins.