Paula West Hodgkins

YARMOUTH – Paula West Hodgkins, a longtime resident of Cousins Island and lifelong educator, passed away on Saturday, May 24, 2025 at the age of 80.

If there is a quote that captures Paula, it is Descartes: “With me, everything turns into mathematics.” Paula didn’t live for math — she lived through math, specifically through learning and by teaching her students, children, grandchildren, friends and anyone around her. Whether it was the Fibonacci sequence in a grandson’s persistent cowlick, or the correlation between the outdoor temperature and the circumference of the leaves on the Rhododendron bushes, there was always a lesson to be discovered and shared.

Born in Portland on Nov. 27, 1944, to Paige and Betty West, Paula was a firecracker. As a child, she could be found ice skating on the pond, jumping barrels and out-running the boys. She had a mischievous kind of intelligence, betting her neighbors 5 cents that she could beat them in Clue — winning consistently because she had mapped out the advantages certain characters had on the board.

At Deering High School, she was a stand-out athlete and a bundle of contradictions: a starting point guard on the half-court basketball team, despite barely reaching 5’1” (her secret: jumping higher than everyone else); a cheerleader and unrepentant tomboy who never thought she was smart or pretty despite having top grades and a date to every dance, every weekend.

Paula started college at the University of Southern Maine, where she could ride her bike to school, work and save the money she needed to transfer to Orono where she majored in math and education. In the two years she spent there, she spent most of her time up in the stacks, working advanced equations with her all male classmates, who for some reason that escaped her, were always eager to help.

She credited the skills and knowledge she gained at Orono with being invited to teach at Fox Lane School in Bedford, New York — one of the first middle schools in the country — upon graduation. But it was also at Orono that she met the love of her life, David Hodgkins. As David tells it, he was up to bat in a pick-up baseball game on campus when something caught his eye: a girl in a yellow skirt walking by. He just had to know: Who was she? A bit of campus sleuthing and he had his answer — and a date. They were married two years later.

Over 57 years of marriage, they juggled kids and careers, took the leaps of faith required to nurture a small business, and developed a frenetic but joyful equilibrium. He picked out her clothes, and she figured out where the sump pump needed to be. While they would eventually travel the world, when the kids were younger and money tighter they would often take romantic getaways to the Freeport Inn. They never stopped holding hands.

Beyond her family, Paula’s biggest imprint on the world can be found in the math skills nurtured in generations of students at Falmouth Middle School. Over 36 years she worked to make math fun and accessible for every student, especially those who struggled with concepts or simply had a hard time sitting still. Her fierce dedication to the success of her students was honored through numerous awards, including the Edyth May Sliffe Award, given annually by the Mathematical Association of America to teachers for outstanding work in motivating their students. But her stamp on the community is perhaps more reflected by the many successful adults who will shout out “Zero the hero!” whenever they hear her name.

As her grandchildren were born, she became their teachers, too. First Odeh and Sami (Allison’s boys), then Logan and Charlie (Shelby’s kids), followed by Oscar and Ruby (Andrew’s kids). She relished her role as Grandma, taking the kids on adventures around Cousin’s Island, playing “Pooh Sticks” (throwing sticks off one side of the bridge to Little John and seeing whose would pop out the other side first) and collecting treasures near the dock. She cheered the loudest at graduations, at concerts and on sidelines, and spent hours playing math games with the kids. But she was also TG — “Tough Grandma” — doling out enduring lessons on responsibility, character, and the importance of never leaving a task unfinished or a math problem unattempted.

In retirement, her love of numbers and patterns transformed into a fascination with jewelry making. She made earrings, necklaces, and bracelets, learning new techniques and crafting large volumes of creations for her fortunate loved ones.

Asked how she would like to be remembered, Paula said: “I want everyone to know that math is beautiful.” And so was she.

Paula is survived by her husband, David Wood Hodgkins, of Cousins Island; her daughter Allison Hodgkins, her husband, George Rizkallah, and their sons Odeh and Sami, of Yarmouth; her daughter Shelby MacLeod, her husband Scott MacLeod, and their kids Logan and Charlie, of Yarmouth and Carrabassett Valley; and her son Andrew Hodgkins, his wife Sabrina Shankman, and their kids Oscar and Ruby, of South Portland. She was predeceased by her brother, Paige L. West Jr, and her son Tucker Hodgkins, of San Francisco.

Paula also leaves her sister, Pamela Prior and her husband Rich, of Georgetown, Mass., as well as her nephews, and her hairdresser/confidant Kathleen Vachon of Casco.

The family will hold an open house for Paula on Sunday, June 8 from 3 to 5 p.m.at the Cousins Island Community House.

In lieu of flowers,

please consider making donations to the organizations where she invested her time and energy:

the Wayfinder School in Camden, Maine and

Mom Demand Action for Gun Sense in America