I want to take the opportunity to publicly thank Thomas T. Hodne, A.I.A., for 30 years of dedicated and devoted service to the organization. Tom has been a member since 1962; he worked for the organization from May 1975 to May 2005.
Tom was truly one of Jim Peters’ proudest finds, and for good reason. From the beginning, Tom was very motivated to help our members make their homes accessible. Tom’s greatest satisfaction was, to quote his words, “seeing members have a more active life because they were able to get in and out of their homes without calling the fire department.” Apparently, at least in one instance, there was a member in New Jersey who had to resort to doing just that in order to get out of his house.
Tom began as Architectural Barriers Coordinator. As the organization grew, his department—eventually called Architecture—expanded to include additional architects as well as designers. Realizing that some of our members did not have the means to perform needed modifications in their homes, Tom spearheaded the initiative to create the RAMP (Residential Accessibility Modification Program) program, through which the organization gave both monetary and hands-on assistance to hundreds of members to make their homes accessible. Tom performed most of the site visits in person and always enjoyed seeing a work through to completion.
An important part of the Architecture Program in the early years was the training of new architecture graduates on barrier-free design. While accessible design has become part of the curriculum in most schools, this was not the case years ago, and our program was there to fill that gap for many years, under Tom’s tutelage.
Early in his career, Tom traveled to many Department of Veterans Affairs facilities to perform site visits and review construction plans. His design recommendations were adopted and put into use systemwide. Word must have gotten out, because back in 1979, we were also approached by the Department of the Army Corps of Engineers to review their project plans and specifications, to ensure compliance with federal accessibility guidelines. We continue to perform these reviews free of charge 26 years later, and are very proud to be held in good esteem by the Corps and, particularly, to have made a difference in the landscape of their facilities.
Under Tom’s guidance, we have been able to act as consultants for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance to hundreds of individuals and entities. We have also been a source of information to individual architects and architectural firms who have contacted us for direction in complying with the law, or for information on accessible construction features in general.
It would take many pages to list all of Tom’s accomplishments. Since that is not practical in this
forum, I’ll just end by saying: We were indeed fortunate and honored to have the assistance of
a true professional and a leader who truly cared about his fellow members. Consistent with
this sentiment, on the day of his retirement, Tom expressed a desire to volunteer for us, assisting in our work with VA concerning the veterans home grant program. We will be taking Tom up on his generous offer.
We met Tom as a father of three rambunctious boy toddlers. Today he is the father of three exemplary young men, two of whom have distinguished careers in the military and are at various times stationed in Iraq. Tom is also the grandfather of three beautiful little girls. Undoubtedly, Tom’s growing family and his hobbies will keep him busy, but we are so much the poorer because we will miss him. Good luck Tom, and thanks again. Our hats are off to you for a job well done!
Gerard M. Kelly
Executive Director
