Claire Hodgin is Suddenly Gone

By Trish Melehan, Arts Commissioner, City of Scotts Valley

The City of Scotts Valley has lost its most shining star. Art Commissioner and Chairwoman, Claire Hodgin, passed away suddenly in her sleep last week. For over 40 years Claire was a passionate supporter of the Arts in our community.

Back in the late 70’s she produced a local dinner theater that she ingeniously, with dogged artistic flair, housed in a barn. Claire was an accomplished actress and singer who shared her talents with the public throughout her life. Those who had the good fortune to see her just a couple of months ago at The Trout Farm in Elf Empire’s dinner theater production, Murder and All that Jazz, saw her in one of her last roles. For me her most memorable performance was as Jeanette, the rehearsal pianist, in Cabrillo Stage’s 2011 production of The Full Monty. The Good Times described her performance as “played with brassy, showbizzy, brio.” That word “brio” gives a clear vision of the woman herself. She was vibrant!

I had the good fortune to work with Claire for many years in our capacity as Arts Commissioners. I will fondly remember her humor, astute insight, even the nagging. Claire could digress into a personal story at the slightest provocation. It was certain to be engaging, enhanced with strong opinions, and graced with the compassion that comes from a sincere appreciation of the human condition. (She’d be sarcastically chiding me over that last sentence were she here right now.)

Thanks to Claire’s efforts Scotts Valley has been enriched by numerous art and theatrical projects, recently she was most responsible for the lovely piece of sculpture that now sits in the median of Scotts Valley Drive.

It saddens me to think that Claire will not be here to see one of her most passionate artistic visions come to life, though she confessed to being aware of that eventuality. Claire was a founding member of the Scotts Valley Community Theater Guild, a recently formed non-profit organization trying to bring a new performing arts center to the heart of the town. For many years Claire had been the most vocal advocate of Scotts Valley’s need for its own theater. What self-respecting town doesn’t have such a cultural hub?

Let’s hope that when the theater finally arrives, when Claire’s dream for Scotts Valley becomes a reality, that we honor her memory. The Claire Hodgin Memorial Lobby perhaps. She’d be happy with the Claire Hodgin Memorial Dressing Room, Refreshment Counter, Lavatory. For goodness sake, she’d be happy with anything. As long as it was part of an actual Scotts Valley Center for the Performing Arts. And such a memorial would be well deserved.

I can see Claire laughing from above the day we dedicate it. She’ll be saying, “It’s about time,” as she breaks into a refrain, in her “brassy, showbizzy, brio.” “Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome” from Cabaret will be ringing throughout heaven. “Leave your troubles outside!”