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Margaret Hodges, who filled bookshelves with retold legends and other books for young readers and with the awards she received for them, died Dec. 13 at her home in Verona, Pa. She was 94.
Her death was announced by her son Arthur Hodges, who said two more of her books were to be published in the future.
Her most recent illustrated books of familiar stories include "Merlin and the Making of the King" (Holiday House, 2004), "The Wee Christmas Cabin" (Holiday House, early 2007) and "Moses" (Harcourt Brace, January 2007).
She wrote more than 50 books over 47 years. She edited other work, especially travel books for young people, before writing her first book, "One Little Drum" (Follet Publishing Company, 1958). Aimed at children 6 to 9 years old, it was based on the exploits of her own three sons.
Hodges also wrote biographies and novels for children and young adults.
She was born Sarah Margaret Moore on July 26, 1911, in Indianapolis and graduated from Vassar in 1932, the year she married Fletcher Hodges Jr., a museum curator. She also received a master's degree in library science in 1958 from the Carnegie Institute of Technology while working as a volunteer children's librarian at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
Hodges earned numerous literary honors, including the Caldecott Medal of the American Library Association in 1985 for "Saint George and the Dragon."
Besides her husband of 73 years, and her son Arthur, of Essex, Mass., Hodges is survived by two more sons, Fletcher III, of Manhattan, and John A., of Washington; 9 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.
-- New York Times
Jehu Callis Hunter
Buffalo soldier/scientist, Maryland
Jehu Callis Hunter, a retired scientist administrator with the National Institutes of Health and a historian of the Buffalo Soldiers unit in which he served during World War II, died of pneumonia Dec. 7 at Laurel, Md., Regional Hospital. He was 83.
Hunter, a native Washingtonian and 1943 Howard University ROTC graduate, entered the Army in 1943 and was assigned to the 92nd Infantry Division of the 5th Army.
The unit, organized in 1917 and reactivated in 1942, was made up of black troops, although the highest-level officers were white.
The soldiers wore a buffalo shoulder patch that symbolically tied them to the 9th and 10th Cavalry regiments of the post-Civil War era in the American West, who were dubbed "Buffalo Soldiers" purportedly because their dark skin and hair reminded Indians of the American bison.
The 92nd Infantry was assigned to northern Italy, where they encountered fierce fighting by German and Italian troops. Resupplies were more than difficult, requiring ferrying by mules. The division lost 555 men.
Hunter, a communications officer, rose to the rank of captain and was awarded the Bronze Star.
In 1985, he co-wrote with Lt. Col. Major Clark "The Buffalo Division in World War II," an unpublished history of the 92nd Infantry. At a reunion of the division in 1987, Hunter reflected on the unit's lack of success in major combat.
Hunter joined the National Cancer Institute as a biologist in 1947 and presented his cancer research at several international symposiums.
He held the positions of assistant director for planning in the National Institutes of Health's Biological Sciences division, chief in the Office of Planning and Analysis and assistant director for program development at the Center for Research for Mothers and Children.
In the last position, he was responsible for the creation of a national network of research centers for diseases of pregnancy, infancy and childhood, including research on sudden infant death syndrome. His work in this field led to his induction into the Royal Society of Medicine.
His marriage to Francesca Castelli Ferguson ended in divorce. His second wife, Frances Simons Kraft, died in 1992.
-- Washington Post
Jesse H. Prout Sr.
Buffalo Soldier, Maryland
Jesse Hamilton Prout Sr., who served with the Buffalo Soldiers during World War II, died Dec. 8 of a heart attack at Southern Maryland Hospital in Clinton, Md. He was 86.
Born in Chesapeake Beach, Va., the youngest and the last surviving of nine children, Prout was a man with stories to tell -- stories about his experiences as a latter-day Buffalo Soldier and about his fascinating family tree.
He enjoyed telling about how his great-grandmother, an American Indian and member of the Blackfeet Nation, made her way on foot from a South Dakota reservation to Sunderland, Md.
According to family members, she walked, daughter in tow, because members of her tribe were being relocated out West. She slipped away from her family and headed east, eventually finding employment on a Maryland tobacco farm.
By the time Prout became a Buffalo Soldier, the units performed primarily ceremonial duties. As a member of F Troop, Prout was the guidon carrier on horseback, carrying the troop pennant during military funerals and parades. He also helped break and train horses for military duty.
After his discharge in 1946, he worked for the U.S. Postal Service as a mail carrier.
Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Frances Elizabeth Prout of Clinton; a son from his marriage, Darryl Miguel Prout of Waldorf, Md.; a son from a previous relationship, Robert Bailey of Mount Rainier, Md.; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
-- Washington Post
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