Clearwater’s Mayme Hodges was a teacher, trailblazer, Pinellas icon

By the time Mayme Hodges retired after 34 years of teaching in Pinellas County Schools, she had already influenced generations of young people.

Hodges was a second mother to students and insisted on their success by following many throughout their lives. It started with African American children in her classroom during segregation and continued when she became the first Black teacher at the predominantly white Kings Highway Elementary during integration.

But after retiring from the school system in 1989, Hodges continued a lifetime of civic leadership that included becoming the first Black woman on what then was the Clearwater City Commission, now the City Council. With her gentle persistence, the 5-foot-2 educator commanded respect as she served on more than two dozen boards and organizations, becoming an icon of community service in her North Greenwood neighborhood and throughout Pinellas County.

Hodges died on March 15. She was 94.

“She didn’t subscribe to any limitations,” said Kanika Tomalin, president and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg and one of Hodges’ countless mentees. “She was an investor in people’s potential and worked really hard to help people understand the greatness in themselves and always recognize it in others.”

When Hodges accepted the Ms. Clearwater award from the Greater Clearwater Chamber of Commerce in 1996, she said her work ethic had been inspired by the Baptist minister who raised her. He taught “that it is better to serve than to be served,” she said at the time.

She was born in Lakeland on Dec. 14, 1929, and went to live with the Rev. George John Martin and his wife when she was about 8 years old after her mother died in childbirth, according to her son, Glenn Hodges.

She began teaching in Pinellas in 1955 at Williams Elementary School, which served Black students in the segregated county. Teaching went beyond the classroom, and Hodges visited students at home to talk with parents or paid for clothes or meals from her own pockets when she saw a need, said David Jelks, who had Hodges as a teacher for fourth and fifth grade.

When Jelks’ father moved up north to work, Hodges took him in to her home on La Salle Street for a time, turning him from a student to godson.

“She could see it, when her students needed her,” Jelks said.

But Hodges’ mentorship of her students was for life and generational.

Tomalin, Jelks’ daughter, also largely grew up in Hodges’ living room, where discussions often centered on goals and dreams. Tomalin went on to serve eight years as St. Petersburg deputy mayor and city administrator under Mayor Rick Kriseman, in part because Hodges “informed my thinking about trajectory and what was even possible.”

When Hodges became the first Black teacher at Kings Highway in 1968, her son said the family got “threatening phone calls at home.” But Arthurene Williams, who began as a teacher there five years later, said Hodges was respected for her focus on bettering children’s lives.

“She taught us that we weren’t just teachers,” said Williams, who served 38 years in the school system. “She was a mama, a disciplinarian, a guidance counselor, all of the above. You can’t always learn that from a book — she showed that.”

After retiring from Kings Highway in 1989, Hodges turned to politics and ran for Pinellas County School Board in 1992. She lost the Democratic primary despite endorsements from the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, both local newspapers and the Democratic Women’s Club.

At that time, no Black person had ever been elected to what were then all countywide school board seats. But Hodges didn’t focus her platform on race. She pushed through the injustices of the time by never really taking no for an answer and not asking for permission, said her daughter, LaTanya Hodges Raffington.

“Win or lose, to her that didn’t affect how she was going to pursue equality and trying to create a level playing field,” Raffington said.

She held leadership roles with the Clearwater Neighborhood Housing Agency, the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association and The Long Center. By December 1992, when the City Commission needed to fill a vacancy for three months, commissioners appointed Hodges for her community expertise.

She became the first Black woman to serve in elected city office, and there has not been another since.

But she remains an inspiration 30 years later. When North Greenwood native Javante Scott ran for Clearwater City Council this year, Hodges was featured on his list of citizen endorsements.

After her service on the City Commission in 1993, she was appointed to the Judicial Nominating Commission of the 6th Judicial Circuit, where she screened applicants for appointments to county or state judgeships.

“Mayme never really talked about what she was doing, she just did these things,” Williams said.

She ran for school board again in 1994, this time winning the Democratic primary by besting the incumbent. She lost in the general election.

But by then, Hodges had become an influencer who had the ears of city officials, community leaders and citizens.

During Frank Hibbard’s first two terms as mayor from 2005 to 2012, Hodges was one of the people he sought for advice and input, he said. She was protective of North Greenwood, and helped guide city decisions like the construction of the North Greenwood Recreation Complex and library.

When there was an issue she was concerned about, Hodges would call the mayor and say, “We need to talk.” But she didn’t stop by City Hall to ask for a meeting.

“She’d summon me to her house,” Hibbard said. “And guess what? You’d be over in a few minutes.”

“She was always a very, very strong advocate for her neighborhood and yet at the same time she was always very reasonable and pragmatic, and that’s one of the things I always appreciated.”

Through all her community work, Hodges was married to her husband, Thomas Hodges, for 64 years until his death in 2017. Along with her two children, she is survived by four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

In 2022, she was honored by the Clearwater Historical Society with its Trailblazing Women award. President Allison Dolan said her legacy is part of city history.

“She was a woman who softly, but strong-willed, moved the education system of the community forward and she helped lift up the Black community during a time when she was really needed,” Dolan said. “She was small in stature but when she saw a problem it was ‘How can I fix it?’”