Cordelia Dodson Hood, 98, of Damariscotta, passed away peacefully at home on July 14. Cordelia retired from her career at the OSS and CIA in Washington, DC in 1980 to Pemaquid Point where she had summered since 1970. She moved to Damariscotta in 1998 and has lived there ever since, joined by her beloved sister, Lisbeth Fisher, in 1999, who lived next door.
Cordelia was born in Portland, Ore. in 1913, to William Daniel Boone Dodson and Besse Ellen Krum. She received her BA from Reed College in Oregon in 1936 and followed a love of languages to Europe, where she studied French and German in Grenoble and Vienna. She and her two siblings who had joined her in Europe, had to leave Vienna after the Nazi invasion of Austria in 1938 and Cordelia finished her language studies with an MA in German from Reed College. She was hired prior to the beginning of WWII by the Office of Facts and Figures, subsequently the OSS, and, following WWII, the CIA. She served in counter intelligence in Switzerland, Vienna, Munich, Frankfurt, and back in Switzerland with stints in Washington, DC in between. Her early professional career was filled with what seem now to be highly romantic espionage activities, with work on “ultra” material using the Enigma Cryptographic Machine outside London and with risky trips across the border into Switzerland during WWII accompanying individuals important to the Allied war effort through occupied territory. In 1950 she married William J. Hood of Portland, an OSS and CIA colleague.
In her retirement years she traveled extensively with friends and family, taking tours to New Zeeland, British gardens, Ireland, Wales, Italy and France. She was an avid reader and follower of cultural developments and a strong supporter of charitable causes both locally in Maine and nationally.
She was predeceased by her brother, Daniel Boone Dodson.
She is survived by her sister; nieces, Cordelia Fisher of Damariscotta, Sarah Fisher of Bethesda, Md., Dorian Dodson of Columbus, N.M. and Lisa Dodson of Auburndale, Mass.; and two grand-nieces.
There will be a memorial celebration of her life in mid-October in Damariscotta, which will be announced closer to the time.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to the Damariscotta River Association, P.O. Box 333, Damariscotta, ME 04543 (www.damariscottariver.org), or the Salt Bay Chamberfest, P.O. Box 1268, Damariscotta, ME 04543 (www.Saltbaychamberfest.org).
