Daughter joins mother at East Hill Antiques
What fun to be an only child with two creative, independent parents. Kyllikki’s father, Lee Hodgden, was a popular, inventive professor of architecture at Cornell with engineering skills paid for by Uncle Sam during WWII, when engineers were more in demand than architects.
Kyllikki’s mother, Laurel Hessler Hodgden, who studied childhood education and then earned a Ph.D. in child psychology, worked in and created nursery schools in Kansas, North Carolina, Texas, Oregon and New Jersey and at Cornell.
Named after a Finnish potter, Kyllikki was born after her parents’ post-war Fulbright Fellowship in Finland.
“I was a night owl, so my parents took me everywhere,” Kyllikki said. “I loved to read a book, sit under the table while the grownups chatted. I was comfortable in the adult world, and I learned so much.”
Before she began kindergarten, Kyllikki has many memories of a six-month sojourn in Europe, all kinds of adventures in a tiny Alfa Romeo.
“The seats flattened out, and we slept in the car as we explored France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and, of course, Finland,” she said.
Kyllikki and her parents loved seeing the sights and getting to know people from many different cultures.
“I went to East Hill Elementary School from kindergarten to sixth grade,” she said. “It was a great experience – East Hill had kids from every country since the children of Cornell grad students went there.”
When she was in fourth grade, Dan Lee became the new principal and East Hill changed to an exciting “free school.” Kyllikki spent a lot of time in the art room, where Betty Singer was the art teacher. After school, there she went to an international folk-dance class.
“Ithaca High School seemed very large and impersonal,” she said. “For senior year, I got into the Experience-Based Career Education program. We worked as interns at various locales in the community, attending school just one day a week.”
First, Kyllikki worked at Congressman Matt McHugh’s office. Joan Loehr and Marsha Mosher (McElligott) were her supervisors, and Kyllikki said she loved each day.
“They treated me like an adult, and I worked very hard to do a good job for our esteemed congressman,” Kyllikki said. “I can recall U.S. senators calling to ask, ‘What does Matt think about X issue?’ I learned to take detailed messages about constituents’ concerns about social security or veterans administration.”
Her next two assignments were at Media Services at Cornell – first in the design and commercial art side, then in the photography side. Kyllikki said she learned so much from the wonderful group of talented people on the fourth floor of gorgeous old Roberts Hall.
From there, she enjoyed a stint at Cornell in fine arts with Gillian Pedersen Kraig, an artist and excellent teacher, Kyllikki said.
“Painting, photography, print work and sculpture interested me,” she said. “But getting a fine arts degree didn’t seem like it would help to get a job in the real world. I left Cornell and opened a little shop selling my crafts on the mezzanine above Logos Bookstore on the Commons, with several other craftspeople.”
In 1979, Kyllikki was hired by Adam Perl to work in his fascinating Pastimes antique store in the Dewitt Building. Learning about antique jewelry, furnishings and photography held Kyllikki’s interest. After her marriage to Tom Inman, Kyllikki combined parenting of Katelyn with her work.
In June 2011, Kyllikki ventured out on her own – setting up East Hill Antiques in the East Hill Plaza on Pine Tree and Ellis Hollow roads. Fans of the charming shop store said it was “my go-to place to buy gifts” and a “gem of a store” with “items from 5 cents to $500.”
During the day, folks stroll by from their Cornell offices or on their way to purchase groceries or a delightful snack at Collegetown Bagels in the East Hill Plaza. In addition to remarkably affordable prices, Kyllikki and her co-workers, Greta Dewey and Laurel, now 91 years of age, have expertly displayed a very unique collection: vintage, retro and fun clothes, antique typewriters, antique jewelry – watches, rings, bracelets and earrings – postcards, photographs, political pins, scarves, hats, dollhouse miniatures, antique boxes and other gems.
Kyllikki, Laurel and Greta are fine hosts. Browsers are welcomed, and this whimsical treasure of a shop is not to be missed.
Check out an upcoming companion story about Laurel, Kyllikki’s eccentric, accomplished 91-year-old mother, in the next Tompkins Weekly.
