Dana Martin Hodges was born on January 11, 1952, in Tulsa, OK.  He grew up in Colorado and Chino, California.

On December 24th, 1966, he dedicated his life to serve Jehovah.  As soon as he graduated from high school, he entered full time service as a regular pioneer until he was invited to Bethel in the spring of 1971.  He served in Bethel for 4 years and was appointed as a ministerial servant when that arrangement was introduced in 1972.  In 1982, at age 30, he began to serve as an elder.

Dana met his wife, Rita, while serving at Bethel and they married May 24th, 1975.  He supported himself and wis wife as an electrician, a data base administrator and a realtor but his life's passion was his service to Jehovah.

Dana loved camping, fishing, downhill skiing and zip lining.  All of his life he looked forward to living in Jehovah's beautiful new world.