Byron Kent Hodgson

Byron Kent Hodgson 1926-2026

Byron Kent Hodgson, 99, passed away peacefully in his sleep on August 3, 2026, at his home in Richland, Michigan. Byron was born on August 15, 1926, in South Bend, Indiana, the only child of Joy (Ferree) and Orville Hodgson.

Byron’s early years were shaped by resilience and hard work. After his father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the family moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1933, where his parents started a coal business. As a boy, Byron helped weigh and shovel coal and delivered the Saturday Evening Post. Those experiences instilled the strong work ethic and business integrity that defined his life.

After serving as a sergeant at General McArthur’s Headquarters in Manila and Tokyo during WWII, Byron pursued a marketing degree at Northwestern University, where he became a lifelong Wildcat fan.

Returning to Battle Creek, Byron joined the family businesses founded by his parents, eventually serving as president and CEO of Co-operative Fuel and Supply, Hodgson Heating & Air Conditioning, and Co-operative Lighting and Fireplaces. In the 1970s, he rebranded the lighting business as Hodgson Light & Log and opened a new Portage showroom in 1978. Under his leadership the company flourished, becoming a cornerstone of the community. In 2002 he sold the business to longtime employees, and it continues to thrive today.

Music was one of Byron’s passions. Growing up, he played violin, piano, and clarinet, graduating as Battle Creek Central High School’s valedictorian in 1944 after serving as first-chair clarinet in the school band. As a young violinist playing in a symphony in Battle Creek, he was invited to perform for W.K. Kellogg at his Gull Lake estate. Mr. Kellogg presented him with a violin afterward — a treasured gift Byron proudly showed to visitors throughout his life. He attended Interlochen music camp as a teen on clarinet, played Dixieland with friends as an adult and after retirement joined a concert band in Arizona, playing every winter until he was 98. Beyond music, he was an avid golfer. Even after he could no longer play, he enjoyed watching it on TV. In later years he rekindled his love for bridge, becoming a regular online player and of course making new friends in the process.

Byron married three times. The first marriage to Lynn Billow in 1949 brought two sons. After a divorce, he married Katherine (Kay) Ramsdell in 1969 and welcomed a daughter later that year. Following Kay’s death in 2014 he married Carol Sandum in 2016, who survives him. He is also survived by all three of his children, along with grandchildren and great-grandchildren: son Jeff Hodgson and his daughter Jessica Chen with Elliana, Adelyn, and Selah; son Curt Hodgson and his children Kelly Beaman (Shawn) with Lilly and Michael, Kristina Schoenberg (Ryan) with Paloma, Marius, Regina, and Tobias, Bryan Hodgson with Cash, and Carter Hodgson; and daughter Karyn Hodgson (Lawrie Hollingsworth) with Evan, Liam and Colin.

Byron was an elder at Richland Presbyterian Church and a member of Gull Lake Country Club. He served as president of the Battle Creek Kiwanis Club, Battle Creek Memorial Park Cemetery Board, and United Arts Council of Battle Creek. He was also a life member of Battle Creek Lodge No. 12 F&AM and served as a director of People’s Savings & Loan and the Michigan Petroleum Association.

Byron had a gift of finding friends wherever he went, whether driving his boat around his beloved Gull Lake, socializing at Kiwanis or the Country Club or while out to dinner in his winter home in Scottsdale, Arizona. While he joked he was a “curmudgeon,” he was more known to everyone who knew him as being gregarious, outgoing and generous. He was a collector of stories he would enthusiastically share with anyone who wanted to listen. If you ever shared a meal with Byron, you likely found yourself wrestling him for the check immediately after he declared that his “sufficiency was suffonsified.”

The family would like to thank Care Where You Are for helping Byron remain in the comfort of his beloved Gull Lake home during the final year of his life.

A service to celebrate Byron’s life will be held at 11:00 a.m. on his 100th birthday, Saturday, August 15, 2026, at the First Presbyterian Church in Richland, 8047 Church St., Richland, MI 49083.

Memorial contributions in memory of Byron may be made to Richland Presbyterian Church, Kiwanis Club, or the Music Center of Battle Creek. 

Arrangements are by Farley Estes Dowdle Funeral Cremation Preneed Care, Richland Chaplel. Personal messages for the family may be placed here at www.farleyestesdowdle.com