By CLAYTON PARK

Ed Hodgins, a Marine Corps major who retired at age 37 to forge a successful second career as a banker in the Lake City community for 27 years, passed away June 8, after a three-year battle with skin cancer. He was 64.

Hodgins' wife of 45 years, Mary Lou, described her husband as an "outgoing, very kind person" who was devoted to his family, community and church.

Born on Sept. 27, 1936 in Scranton, Pa., Ed Hodgins grew up in a small college town in Pennsylvania called Swathmore. At age 15, he got a job as a soda jerk at a neighborhood drugstore. Mary Lou, who was a frequent customer of the drug store, was immediately attracted to the new clerk behind the counter with his good looks and "bright, red hair."

The two soon began dating and "we never left each other after that," says Mary Lou. "We were married at age 19 - and they say that young marriages don't work!"

Ed Hodgins dropped out of high school when he turned 17 to enlist in the Marines. While in the service, he eventually earned his G.E.D. and went on to take correspondence college courses from the University of Maryland. "He was definitely a self-made man," says Mary Lou.

During his 20-plus-year career in the Marines, Hodgins served stints in Cuba during the Missile Crisis, Vietnam, during the war, and Lebanon. He also spent a portion of his career stationed at Camp LeJune, N.C., and later at Sand Point Naval Station in Seattle, where as a casualty call officer, he had the difficult responsibility of notifying families of deceased soldiers.

It was while he was at Sand Point, in 1966, that he and his wife purchased a home in the nearby Maple Leaf neighborhood. They needed a house large enough to raise their five children. They continued to own the house even after Hodgins was reassigned to positions elsewhere.

When he retired from the Marines, Hodgins brought his family back to Seattle even though he didn't have a job lined up. A friend who worked in banking arranged for him to interview for a teller position at Commercial Bank of Seattle, a community bank in Lake City, which was founded by prominent car dealer Bill Pierre Sr. Hodgins got hired and within two years, moved up the ranks to become a bank vice president.

Hodgins continued to manage the Lake City branch, occupying the same desk, for more than two decades, despite the fact that Commercial Bank, which changed its name to Bank of Seattle, was later sold to Puget Sound Bank, which in turn was later sold to Key Bank.

Hodgins became actively involved in the community, serving stints as president of the Lake City Rotary Club, vice president of the Lake City Chamber of Commerce, president of the Community Psychiatric Clinic and president of the American Institute of Banking. He was also a member of the Lake City Elks and served on the board of directors for the Lake City Community Center. He was also active in his local church - first at St. Catherine and later at Saint Matthew's, near Jackson Park.

He finally retired from his second career in 1995, shortly after Puget Sound Bank's sale to Key Bank, but came out of retirement the following year after receiving a surprise call from Bob Dixon, founder and CEO of Everett-based Frontier Bank. Dixon said Frontier wanted to open a bank branch in Lake City - its first in King County - and could think of no better person than Hodgins to be its manager.

Mary Lou Hodgins said her husband was flattered to be asked, and accepted the job two days later.

Barbara McCarthy, Frontier's senior vice president of marketing, in an interview with the Jet City Maven in 1998, explained that Hodgins was chosen to open the branch because "Nobody in Lake City knew about Frontier (in 1996), but everybody knew of Ed Hodgins. Ed was the key to our success in Lake City."

Hodgins told the Jet City Maven, for that same 1998 article, that "The only reason I came back (out of retirement) was because it (Frontier) was a community bank." He noted, with pride, that all decisions at Frontier, such as approval of loans, etc., are made locally - not from out-of-state like many of the big banks do.

The other thing that attracted Hodgins to the idea of working for Frontier was the opportunity to continue working in the Lake City area. "If I couldn't stay here, I wasn't going anywhere," he said.

In preparing to open Frontier's Lake City branch, Hodgins recruited several of his former staff, including Sylvia McElroy, who became operations manager at the Lake City branch, and Diana Ferguson, who became a new accounts manager. Another one of Hodgins' former staffers, Evelyn Jones, joined Frontier's Lake City branch as a commercial lending officer in August 1997. She briefly succeeded Hodgins as Lake City branch manager after his third "retirement" in January 1999. (Jones now works for another company.)

Mary Lou notes that her husband never actually fully retired, even after the third try. He continued to work for Frontier as a part-time consultant, serving as an ambassador to the community on behalf of the bank up until his death.

As committed as Hodgins was to his job and to the various community and church activities he was involved in, his wife says he was first and foremost a devoted family man who loved spending time with his children and grandchildren, who called him "Gampy."

The week before his death, Hodgins and his wife celebrated the 45th anniversary of their wedding. He died at home, surrounded by his family - the way he wanted it.

A funeral mass for him was held at St. Matthew's on June 13. The packed house included several of his former bank staffers and the many friends he made throughout the Lake City community. Donations in his memory can be made to the Christopher Young Fund c/o St. Catherine's School, 8524 8th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98115, or to The Puget Sound Blood Center, 921 Terry Ave., Seattle, WA 98104.

He is survived by his wife, daughters Sharon Hodgins, Gail Wilder (and son-in-law Bruce), Maria Dixon (John), son Michael Hodgins (Karen), and grandchildren Matthew, Andrew, Lauren, Sean, Hayley, Caitlyn, Delaney, Brayden and Molly. (