Richard Albert Hodgson, P.Eng. passed away on August 29, 2026, at the age of 79.
He was predeceased by his parents, Frederick (2013) and Annie (2019) Hodgson, and his brother Allen (2024).
Richard will be terribly missed by his loving wife of 57 years, Shirley, his brother Glenn (Diane), and sister in-law Penney. He also leaves behind three children: Debra (Harvey), Sandra, and Michael (Angela); nine grandchildren: Patricia (Nat), Christina, Cassandra (Michael), Justin, Kaylin (Liam), Eric, Catherine, Claire, and Elizabeth, and five great-grandchildren: Rhy-Ell, Allister, Amelia, Melanie, and Cayden. He will also be missed by numerous good friends, work associates, and extended family.
Richard Albert Hodgson was honoured to be named after two of his father’s brothers who were killed in WWII. He grew up in Blue Ridge, AB and attended high school in Mayerthorpe, where he met Shirley. After graduating from the U. of A. in Mechanical Engineering in 1968, he went to work for Ray Parks Welding & Supply Ltd. This began his legacy in the Oil and Gas Industry.
He married Shirley in 1969 and had the first of his three children in 1970. He spearheaded many companies and lived through the countless ups and downs of the oil patch in his professional career. He started R.A. Hodgson Industrial Design Ltd. in 1976 and was excited to be celebrating 50 years in business as of December 8, 2026. Over the years, his name became well known in the industry, both in Canada and abroad. In fact, to date, 430+ oil rigs have carried the Hodgson name. He was a forward thinker. He designed with every step of the manufacturing process in mind and he worked tirelessly to make things simple and safe for the people who had to build and use his designs. Those he mentored acquired a whole new way of looking at both their work and their lives. Retirement wasn’t a word Rick recognized – he spent most days at his work office, up to and including the day he died.
When he wasn’t working, he could be found putting together a jigsaw puzzle, solving a math/logic problem, or completing his latest carpentry project. The only thing he took more pride in than his work, was his family. He displayed endless love and devotion to his wife and cherished the family they built together.
He was the man we could always depend on. If we had a problem, he solved it, if he possibly could. He showed up for everyone and anyone and just made the world a better place for those who knew him.
One of his many great accomplishments was giving blood over 100 times. If you would like, follow his example and make an appointment to donate. Because he loved to buy a meal for others, if you would like to make a monetary donation in Rick’s name, please donate to the Food Bank or Hope Mission.
The family would love to hear your memories of Rick. Please post a photo and/or story to the following link. https://my.guestpix.com/guest/184875/access/OXzI5kNC
He leaves behind a legacy of extraordinary problem solving, work ethic, generosity, and love.
“Whether we called you Rick, Dad or Grandpa, we love you to the moon and back. Thank you for everything.”
Tribute to Rick Hodgson
In 1979, fresh out of university, I took my first job working for Rick at the newly formed partnership of Rudd & Hodgson Industries. Those were busy days, full of youthful energy and adventure. Rick was leading the way, meeting customers, quoting jobs, designing solutions and even preparing drawings via drafting table, paper and pencil. Ricks love of sports and teamwork lead to him organizing company teams for playing slow pitch in the summer and a few industrial league hockey games in the winter. He once jokingly told me that rather than asking a job applicant about previous work experience, he would first ask them how many goals they scored last year.
The governments national energy program introduced in 1980 caused a slowdown in local drilling activity and eventually forced the company to shut down in 1986. Rick forged on and shortly thereafter starting his own company focused exclusively on design and drafting of drilling rig equipment. R A Hodgson Industrial Design Ltd. was born.
After the shutdown, foreman Dennis Beaudry and I were hired by Ricks friend Gino Alessandrini to work at Quality Fabricating & Supply Ltd. Over the years, Ricks designs became very popular, and we would be one of several shops that would build many different styles of drilling rigs. Ricks detailed knowledge of fabrication and welding was evident on the quality and presentation of these drawings. If we ever experienced cost over-runs, Rick was always accommodating and easy to deal with. He would often say at times like that you have to be fair to others, but also fair to yourself.
I thoroughly enjoyed every dealing I had with Rick over all the years I knew him. I found him to be always positive in his outlook, and consider him a great and generous friend and mentor.
My memories of Rick are from the perspective of a friend and neighbor. Shirley is added into most memories as they were together at work, at home and socially.
We go back forty years to the days when my two sons were good friends with their son. My sons had the benefit of being included on their holidays, including disneyland and ski trips to Jasper. I am grateful for all the life wisdom and kindness my children learned from the Hodgson family
My personal friendship with Rick and Shirley deepened in 2003 when I became the extra friend who travelled with them. Over the years we went to Cuba twice , to Mexico, and a cruise.. During these holidays I learned a lot about who Rick Hodgson was outside of work and family occasions.
In Cuba I observed his generosity to all the staff in this poverty stricken country. He found ways to safely sneak money to hotel staff, drivers and the general public. Occasionally there was a downside to Rick’s generous nature. On a tour to Havana market, Rick was seen standing against a fence handing out dollar bills to everyone in sight, the crowd became enormous and Rick had to be dragged onto the tour bus and we drove away with a a crowd shaking the bus trying to get Rick back. The other tour participants were not impressed but Rick kept a pleasant smile on his face and continued on.
While travelling, I noticed Rick’s patience and generosity of time to a friend (me). This made me useful to Shirley, as she could say “Anne wants to do the Labyrinth walk” or “see the lavender fields in Hawaii”, as these were things not on his favorites list, but she wanted to do them and he would accommodate for a friend.
On the home front, Rick put up my Christmas lights every year, helped clean out my garage, fixed my fence, and designed and built a privacy fence around my hot tub. Rick was generous with his time as well as always paying the bill when we went out
He always had a crazy, funny story about an event, but was never critical of others, at least in public.
My description of Rick was that he was the person who always had my back and that is not a small thing. I described him frequently as the person who would drive to Red Deer area at 2 am in a snowstorm to get me if my car broke down without hesitation.. Please note that I would never have asked, but an anchor in life like Rick is precious and not replaceable. He will be deeply missed by myself and my family.
Godspeed Rick Hodgson – I believe there are beautiful beaches and sunsets waiting for you. You left the world a better place and I will always be grateful for your presence in my life.
Hugs to shirley, my good friend and all the family
One particular political memory of him has always stayed with me.
He was a staunch conservative in a lot of respects and spent his life making a very successful living in Alberta oil and gas. But when I was younger, he privately told me in confidence that he had voted for the Green party of Canada.
That became more meaningful to me as I developed my own politics.
Environmental politics deals with a problem that normal pocketbook politics is often terrible at dealing with: the benefits and the costs of our choices can happen at completely different times and fall on completely different people. One generation can become extremely prosperous extracting a resource while part of the cost arrives decades later for people who never participated in the original decision.
The easiest response is basically: protect my business, lower my taxes, protect my investments, maximize growth, and somebody else can deal with the externalities later.
There is a strain of conservative politics, certainly not all conservatism, that can collapse into exactly that kind of thinking. A sophisticated version of “f*** you, I got mine.”
My grandpa had more material reason than almost anybody I knew to think that way.
He didn’t.
Voting Green once didn’t mean he suddenly became left-wing or agreed with everything the party stood for. The part I cared about was that he was willing to put some of his own immediate economic interests below something inherently intergenerational.
He was thinking about what his children and grandchildren were going to inherit.
He told me that in confidence on a walk when I was young. I had shown an interest in politics that I think he was responding to, or trying to foster. And as I became more politically oriented later in life, I came to understand that he had communicated quite a lot to me with very few words.
It remains one of my favorite memories of him.
I’m incredibly proud that he was my Grandpa.
Shirley and family,
I’m so very sorry for your loss. I will always remember his infectious laugh. Just hearing it would make me burst into laughter myself. He was such a wonderful friend, always making sure to keep in touch, and I will treasure the many good times we shared.
I especially remember our dinners at Vicki’s, one of our favourite restaurants, and how we would always end the evening with a playful fight over who was going to pay the bill.
What I admired most was the love he showed for his family and for you, Shirley. That love was so evident, and it was a beautiful part of who he was.
I will miss him dearly, and most of all, I will miss that wonderful laugh. My thoughts and love are with you all.
I never met Rick in person but for the past 26 years I came to know him from our many telephone conversations. I knew his voice well and he never had to say who was calling, I’d know it was him from a couple of words spoken. Each call would start with a discussion of investments but soon branched out to encompass many subjects. I learned a lot about his company and the services he provided. A few revelations come to mind even now such as I was amazed when he told me they had provided a blueprint for the construction of an oil drilling rig in Russia. I learned they not only constructed rigs but serviced them and instructed workers in the operation of them in the US as well as Canada.
He talked about a large aquarium they had in the office and he was the one I think who fed them.
Rest in peace Rick, I’ll miss our many chats.