James Edward “Hodgie” Hodge, 70, died Sunday morning, Dec. 18, 2011, in the Monarch Wing at Skiff Medical Center in Newton.

A graveside service will be at 4 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 22, at the Massena Cemetery in rural Massena, Iowa. A visitation with the family will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at the Pence-Reese Funeral Home in Newton. A memorial fund for the Massena United Methodist Church has been established in memory of James.

James E. Hodge, the son of James Orson Hodge and Bertha Ellen (Kingsmith) Hodge-Crowder, was born March 10, 1941, in Kirksville, Mo. He had attended school in Villisca, Iowa.