GREENSBORO — His smile. The laughs he shared. The deep bonds and the memories he created.
Derek Carl Eaddy Hodge II will be remembered for those reasons and more by the people on the N.C. A&T campus.
But it's the love he had — for his faith, family, friends and university — that identified the 21-year-old student, speakers said at a memorial Wednesday evening.
The Aggie family packed an auditorium for an hourlong memorial to share memories of Hodge and to remind one another not to take any day for granted.
Hodge died from a single gunshot wound early Saturday morning inside his Kay Street home. Police have no suspects and no motive in the crime.
"He was a good person and a good student," said Korey Reynolds, who met Hodge in a class three years ago. "He was someone you could depend and rely on."
Christle Allen, a junior at Winston-Salem State, said Hodge was a flirt. They met at a football game at their high school in Raleigh.
"He had some drama with one of his girlfriends," Allen said.
The last time they spent together was at a New Year's Eve party, where Allen was caught in a photo giving Hodge a friendly New Year's kiss.
"I got in trouble for that kiss," Allen said. She was dating someone else, but she still has the photo.
Hodge came to A&T from Wendell, 10 miles east of Raleigh, to be with his cousin Charles Hodge and to uphold a family connection with the university.
"He wanted to be a businessman, but now he is doing his business for God," Charles Hodge said. "He lived a good life and was raised by a good father."
Family members said they hoped Derek Hodge's death would serve as a reminder to students to get their lives together and to cherish those they hold dear.
"Life's too short. You are not promised a tomorrow," said
K. Johnson, another cousin and a 2003 A&T graduate.
"Don't let anything derail you" of your goals, Johnson said, "because he would not let anything derail him."
Hodge will be buried at a service Thursday in Wendell.
Anyone with information about his death is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 373-1000.
Staff writer Sonja Elmquist contributed to this report.
Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com
