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Beauty Is as Beauty Does
Ronnie Hodge
One of New London's loveliest ladies, Myrona Hodge, knows where to find other beautiful people with those who work to make inviting vistas and pretty corners all around town look even better.
A founding member of New London Main Street, "Ronnie" has been chair of the Design Committee since it started six years ago. When asked how she's managed so many successful projects from Waterfront Park to the light pole banners as well as the streetscape on upper State Street, she dismisses the question: "I've had a great committee!" Quite a number of her associates have stuck with her from the beginning, and no wonder. She is both beautiful and humble.
The group has attracted other pretty people as well, and these are sure to carry on when Ronnie steps down to become a member of the class of 2007 of Main Street's Board of Directors later this spring.
Ronnie is also chair of New London's Historic District Commission and its Design Review Board, an important municipal group charged with overseeing the preservation of New London's historic built environment. But that's not all. Ronnie is also on the city's Beautification Committee, a 13-member panel of which she is, once again, chair. Working with a limited budget, this group fills planters at the waterfront, post office and police station, as well as other sites like Ocean Beach. Ronnie is also involved with Save Ocean Beach, formed in 1996 to raise money for improvements to the city's public strand. The progress includes a new playground, a nature walk, and this year's project, a gateway garden. Why does she do it? During her high school years, Ronnie lived in New London, being in a Navy family, and then she fell in love with a handsome Navy man. She met Wesley Hodge at her first job at Loring Photographic Studios on upper State Street. Years later, the couple returned to New London for retirement, but things went terribly wrong. When her beloved died before his time, something had to be done. First there was the beautification of her own backyard garden near Ocean Beach; then there was the rest of the city.
For those working to make things lovely, there is both instant and longterm gratification, Ronnie insists. Reclaiming bits and pieces of nature and helping to make them more visible and accessible is rewarding in itself. But there is another bonus as well. Working with Main Street, Ronnie says she has come in contact with like-minded people who really care about beauty. "These are not the folks who sit around and complain," she says, "but positive people with good hearts and sincerity, who don't mind getting a bit dirty."
Recent heart surgery means that Ronnie may not be able to get down in the dirt quite as much as usual for a few months, but in the meantime she's collected a cadre of like-minded New Londoners to carry on. More help is needed.
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