Miss Jean

Hodgepodge Lodge

Miss Jean & Aurora

Miss Jean at Cabin dedication

When I was a child very few people influenced me. I was so completely obsessed with animals and nature that nothing else attracted my attention. One TV person who made a life long impact on me was Miss Jean Worthley. She had a TV show on PBS called *Hodgepodge Lodge.* The show started in 1970.  Miss Jean was a Naturalist who lived in a tiny cabin in the woods with lots of different animals.  She took the local children on hikes and shared with them her vast knowledge of Nature and Animals. She started each show at the Discovery Table where she would introduce the children to an animal. She was living my dream life. In her real life she was a Naturalist who lived on a large farm and who also was mother to six children, four of them sons. Her husband was a Botanist.  Many years later while I was in my local library digging through the nature section as I always did when I had a few free moments,  I came across her book The Complete Family Nature Guide. It brought back so many memories.   I took the book out of the library multiple times and each time I could see that I had been the only one to do so.  I told the librarian that if they were ever going to discard the book to please let me have it and I'd pay for it. One day the library called and gave the book to me! What a wonderful surprise.  I wrote Miss Jean a letter telling her how much her show meant to me and she wrote back and I was able to get a couple of copies of the show from her.  The Hodgepodge Lodge cabin has now been restored and is at the Howard County MD Conservancy and will forever be an interactive nature exhibit for children, what a great tribute to a wonderful inspiring women. Thank you Miss Jean for helping me become who I am.