Oksoon "Sooni" Hodge

Today, we gather to celebrate and honor the life of Oksoon Hodge-known lovingly to family and friends as Sooni. Sooni was born in Korea, where she endured a life of hardships through which she persevered. It was there that fate brought her together with her future husband, Cort Hodge, who was serving on duty. Their meeting was the beginning of a lifelong partnership - one built on love, mutual respect, and the quiet strength that carried them through every season of life.

Together, they built a family filled with warmth and laughter. Sooni was the proud mother of two daughters, Tina and Aja, whom she loved with every fiber of her being. Her love for her family only deepened when her grandson, Dezmond, came into the world. From the moment he was born, Sooni poured her heart into caring for him. She helped raise him through those precious first years of life, giving him not only her time but her love and tenderness.

She expressed these through the custom made meals that she prepared for him everyday. Her daughter, Tina, and son- in-law, Rob, often say they couldn't have done it without her - and that's the kind of person Sooni was: always there, always giving, never asking for anything in return.

Sooni had a remarkable way of finding joy in simple, beautiful things. She loved crocheting, creating pieces that were not only works of art but symbols of comfort and love.

She found peace in her garden, tending to her flowers with the same care she gave her family. Her kitchen was another place where she expressed her love - if you were fortunate enough to receive a famous Mama Sooni Kimchi jar, you knew you had a place in her heart. And she adored her cats and dogs, who returned her affection in the way animals know best - by simply being near her.

Those who knew Sooni will remember her kindness, her honesty, her sense of humor, and her unwavering dedication to the people she loved. In any task that she was given, she would always go above and beyond. She was a woman who gave everything of herself to make life better for those around her.

Though she is no longer with us in body, her love lives on in so many ways - in Cort's memories of the life they built together, in the lessons and values she passed down to Tina and Aja, and in the warmth and laughter that Dezmond carries forward, a reflection of the grandmother who adored him.

Sooni's legacy is one of love love that nurtures, that gives, that endures. And as we say goodbye today, we also say thank you for her devotion, her laughter, her quiet courage, and the countless ways she made our world brighter.

May we honor her by living as she did - with kindness, humility, and an open heart. And may she rest in peace, surrounded by the same love she so freely gave.