Leroy Hodde

Leroy Hodde, age 79, was called home to be with his Lord and Savior on June 14, 2023.

Leroy was born on March 4, 1944 in Washington County to Edwin and Elsine Hodde and was their only child.  He was a lifelong member of Zion Lutheran Church where he was baptized on April 23, 1944 by Reverend R. J. Weber and confirmed on March 30, 1958. 

He grew up in farming and ranching with horses and cattle and was involved in 4-H and FFA where he participated in school projects.  Leroy was honored in high school for being an outstanding 4-H’er in his district and graduated from Brenham High School in 1962.

On November 9, 1968, Leroy married Gladys Baron at Zion Lutheran Church, and they were blessed with two sons, Randy and Bradley.

Leroy’s career involved cattle and real estate. He was a cattle rancher all of his life and provided custom farm services for hay baling/shredding and plowing. He was also a Bonded Livestock Broker and handled orders from buyers for Great Plains Cattle Feeders in the Texas Panhandle and other states. He also supplied cattle to Texas A&M University in their Bovine Nutrition Program.  Leroy was active in showing commercial females at the Ft. Worth, San Antonio, Beaumont and Houston Livestock Shows and was recognized many times for winning Grand Champion and the Herdsman award.

He started selling real estate in 1976 where he worked with Pierre Roberts at Roberts Horne Real Estate.  In 1998 he combined his two worlds by starting Hodde Land and Cattle Company so he could have the pleasure of working alongside both of his sons in the businesses of real estate and ranching.  His office was, and still is, located in downtown Brenham. Through the years, he sold countless properties in Washington and the surrounding counties and he remembered each one and could almost always recall the buyer or seller’s name and the year he sold it.  He always had a story to tell and became a great mentor to his agents.

On the outside it didn’t appear that he had many hobbies, because, even though he enjoyed hunting and fishing, his main love was being outdoors doing ranch work. He would spend endless hours driving tractors, baling hay and hauling cattle to and from area livestock auction barns. He had an uncanny ability to make or fix something with whatever resources he had lying around. He knew just how to repair his equipment to make it through the day or build a piece of equipment to make his farm work easier such as building a dual hay rake chassis to save time, adding a removeable cab to his tractor for the winter and converting an old cattle trailer to haul round hay bales that would unload without a tractor.

Leroy was very involved with the Washington County Fair where he started out on the Swine Committee and eventually became Vice President and then Fair President from 2000-2001. He was elected President of the Executive Board and continued serving the Board for many years after leaving office. He truly enjoyed volunteering his time to 4-H and hauling exhibitor’s projects to various shows.

One of his greatest joys were watching his grandkids, Carsyn and Cooper, follow in his footsteps and show their animals at the Washington County Fair and all of the major Livestock Shows.  When he did slow down enough to take a vacation, he made sure he traveled with a group of his lifelong friends. 

Leroy remained an active member of Zion Lutheran Church his entire life and served the on the Church council. He always enjoyed cooking Easter breakfast and was a member of the Gay Hill Lodge #193. 

Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Gladys Hodde; sons and daughters-in-law: Randy Hodde and wife, Debbie, Bradley Hodde and wife Jenna, his grandchildren: Carsyn and Cooper Hodde, Aerynn Huntsman and Rhyan Hodde and brother-in-law and sister-in-law; Leroy and Jean Baron.  He was preceded in death by his parents and sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law; Betty and Travis Winklemann and Virginia and Irvin Rosenbaum.

Visitation will be Wednesday, June 21, 2023 from 5:00pm-7:00pm at Memorial Oaks Chapel in Brenham. Funeral Service will be Thursday, June 22, 2023 at 10:00am at Zion Lutheran Church with Pastor Glenn Hohlt officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.

Serving as pallbearers will be Larry Blum, Bruce Hohlt, Brian Lorenz, Doyle Borchardt, Cody Andrejczak, Matt Zibilski, Charles Holtkamp and Doug Pierce.

Special thanks are given to Leroy’s caregivers at Magnolia Assisted Living in Bellville, Texas for taking such great and loving care of him.

Memorials may be given to Zion Lutheran Church.