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Keeping the ‘Hodges’ in Hodges Woodall
After nearly 41 years, Dr. Daryl Hodges is about to make a change. However, the Greencastle optometrist is wise enough not to change everything all at once.
As of Tuesday, Jan. 1, Hodges will no longer be the owner of his longtime practice at 814 E. Washington St., Greencastle.
Hodges will continue to practice two days a week at Hodges Woodall Optometry, only he’ll now be working for someone else.
Dr. Nicholas Woodall, who has practiced with Hodges since 2013, and his wife Dr. Leslie Harman Woodall will now own the practice.
“We brought Nick on in 2013 and he was just a perfect fit,” Hodges said. “As of Jan. 1, he and Dr. Harman, his wife, will be owners of Hodges Woodall Optometry and I’ll work for them.”
After more than five years working with Woodall as well as getting to know Harman, Hodges is ready to pass along his “baby” to a couple of people he truly trusts.
“This is the kind of scenario that every private practice doc would like to have,” Hodges said. “We almost treat it like a baby. You want this living thing you nurtured to continue on. You want it for your patients, so they don’t feel lost.
“I’ve talked to other colleagues and they say, “Daryl, you’ve got the perfect scenario.”
Part of that scenario is going to be increased availability of doctors, even as Hodges scales back his own schedule.
“The transition has been exceptional. Nick has contributed so much,” Hodges said. “I had a good base here, but I was a one-person practice and now we are a strong two-person practice. And now Dr. Harman is going to grow it even more because she’ll bring her base.”
The new arrangement gives the practice two full-time doctors with Woodall and Harman working four days each week, as well as a part-time doctor with Hodges working two days.
“We’re definitely happy he’s staying on two days a week,” Woodall said.
Perhaps the best part for all the doctors is that they are already familiar faces in the community.
“It’s not like Nick’s coming from someplace else. That’s a bonus,” Hodges said. “A lot of people know him already.”
“A lot of people know Leslie as well. That’s nice,” Woodall said. “We call her Dr. Harman at the office. Legally, she is Dr. Woodall.”
Harman comes to the Greencastle practice having most recently practiced in Crawfordsville. The Mitchell native did her undergrad and doctorate work at Indiana University, where she met her partner in life and, now, in the practice.
“She’s one of the lucky people who’s known she wanted to be an optometrist since she was young,” Woodall said.“We met our first year and started dating and then got married after we graduated.”
Harman focuses mainly on primary care, with a focus on contact lenses.
“She knows way more about contact lenses than I do, so she does that more than I do,” Woodall said.
Differing specialties and the ability to learn from one another are one of the strengths Hodges believes he’s noticed in the practice over the last five years.
“I think I’ve grown a lot since Dr. Woodall came on board and I hope he has learned from me,” the veteran optometrist said. “We have tried hard to stay up and we have the best equipment you can have in an optometry practice.”
Woodall also credits Hodges for his success.
“He’s been a great resource to my career,” Woodall said. “He’s definitely sped my career along and kept me from making a lot of mistakes I would have made.”
A Greencastle native, Woodall is trying to build upon the legacy Hodges has built rather than erase it.
“The name isn’t going to change,” Woodall said. “We appreciate the history of the practice. That’s something that pretty important to us.”
Part of that history is a young doctor who saw an opportunity to build something in a small town.
“I was from Kentucky and Jan, my wife, was from Greencastle. We got together and when I got a job at the IU School of Optometry,” Hodges recalled. “But I wanted a small-town practice, I always have. We would drive up here on the weekends and I’d say, ‘You know, this would be a great place to start a practice...’”
That opportunity came in due time, with Hodges’ fledgling practice open three days a week, while he worked three more at the School of Optometry. It began in a house on North Jackson Street, before Hodges was able to buy the current location on East Washington Street in 1984. The building was converted from a pair of apartments to an optometry practice.
“So, it has been a success story.”
Hodges loves the east side location, particularly as the city has developed to the east in the last 34 years.
“The location is phenomenal,” he said. “The longer I’m here, the more I like it.”
That seems to be his feeling about Greencastle in general.
“We raised our kids here. I had two of the three kids graduate from DePauw,” Hodges said. “We’ve been very fortunate. We’re happy.
“You don’t just work here. You live here and you get involved,” he added.
With that in mind, semi-retirement may carry Hodges away in short spurts, but he doesn’t plan to wander far.
“We’re going to stay here and stay involved,” Hodges said. “We’re going to travel a little bit. I have some hobbies I’m going to get more involved with.”
Hodges’ continued presence around the office, even in smaller doses, is important to his new boss.
“I’ve never heard a bad thing about Daryl from anyone,” Woodall said. “Everything anyone ever says is about his larger-than-life personality.
“He’s never negative,” Woodall added. “It’s hard to get him down. I’ve never seen him down — ever.”