In Loving Memory
Nettie Frances Hodge (Wilcoxen) West
November 18, 1931 – January 7, 2010

Nettie Frances Hodge West, 78, passed away peacefully on January 7, 2010, in Round Rock, Texas, with her family at her side. She was born November 18, 1931, in McDade, Texas, the eldest child of Lucy Mason and Horace Greeley Hodge.
Nettie graduated as Elgin High School’s valedictorian in 1948 and received her bachelor’s degree in English from Mary Hardin-Baylor College in 1952. She was editor of the literary magazine, Baylorian, which featured several of her short stories.
She resided in Bastrop, Texas, from 1972 until 2009, and lived previously in Sutherland Springs, Manchaca, San Gabriel, Oak Hill, Victoria, and Smiley.
A passionate, conscientious educator, she imparted her love of knowledge to hundreds of students during a career that spanned three decades. She began her teaching career in Smiley in 1963, and taught third grade there for nine years. From 1972 until her retirement in 1990, she taught the third and fourth grades at Mina Elementary in Bastrop. She found nothing so rewarding as the light in students’ eyes when they suddenly understood. She loved her job.
Nettie’s other passions included her beloved pet dogs and cats (and all animals, tame and wild); expressing her artistic side in sewing, crafts and oil painting; gardening; reading voraciously; and traveling the great American West with her family.
She was married to Norman “Buddy” Wilcoxen from 1953 to 1976. They had two children, daughter Lucinda Sue Wilcoxen and son David Allen Wilcoxen. From 1983 to 1984, she was married to George West, who died in 2000. Buddy Wilcoxen died in 2007.
She is survived by daughter Lucinda Wilcoxen, Bastrop; son David Wilcoxen and wife Karen LeFevre, Austin; sister Bettye Patton and husband Richard, Dripping Springs; sister Linda Ging and husband Mike, Bay City; brother H.G. Hodge Jr. and wife Gail, Elgin; and brother Larry Hodge and wife Zoe Ann Stinchcomb, Athens.
The family wishes to thank the staff of Lighthouse Hospice in Round Rock for their loving care at the end of Nettie’s life.
A memorial service will be held at the Bastrop State Park Refectory in Bastrop, Texas, on March 21, 2010, at 1:30 p.m., with a reception following.

God understood our thirst for
knowledge, and our need to be led
by someone wiser;
He needed a heart of compassion,
of encouragement, and patience;
Someone who would accept
the challenge regardless of the
opposition;
Someone who could see potential
and believe in the best in others . . .
So He made Teachers.
Anonymous