Emmanuel Hodrick lets his fingers guide him whenever he plays the electronic keyboard at the Veterans Home of California-Redding.

“I find the two raised black keys—D-Flat and E-Flat—and I know Middle-C is the key to the left,” Hodrick said.

As we celebrate Black History Month, CalVet honors this resilient 60-year-old Army veteran who, blind for the past decade due to a condition called iritis, has taught himself how to play well enough to be part of the Home’s all-veterans band.

“Personally, I think I’m awful,” Hodrick joked. “But people seem to enjoy it when I play and support the band leader.”

Being a team player comes naturally for Hodrick, who joined the Army after graduating from high school in Oakland in 1981. He served stateside during peacetime, transporting advanced guided missiles, along with the food and other goods needed to supply the soldiers at White Sands, New Mexico, and other installations.

“I operated a five-ton truck taking the missiles (the explosives would be installed after arrival) to the firing batteries,” Hodrick said. “My job was pretty mundane. I never saw one of the missiles launched during the test firings.”

He said he joined the armed services during a period of transition, when internal technical and cultural changes, including an institutional commitment to racial equality, were transforming the branches following the tumultuous Vietnam War years. “The service was changing,” he said. “In fact, it had already changed when I joined in 1981. I’d heard how it had been during the Vietnam War, and it seemed like they were making an effort not to allow that type of behavior.”

When his active duty hitch ended in 1983, he spent the next three years in the Army Reserve attached to a helicopter repair unit at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He used his GI Bill education benefits to attend Rose State College while in Oklahoma, and then after returning to northern California, at Merritt College in Alameda County.

Hodrick later undertook a series of civilian jobs, including in food service, retail, air freight, and as a hotel shuttle driver until his vision problems began.

“It got so bad that I couldn’t work anymore,” Hodrick said. “My sister convinced me to go to the VA, and that saved me. Once the doctors looked at the degeneration, they got me into training at the blind center. I was totally unaware something like that even existed.”

His blindness progressed to the point where he required around-the-clock care, and three years ago, he relocated to the Veterans Home in Redding. There, he began tickling the ivories and tapping into his talent.

Hodrick had always enjoyed music—particularly the bebop jazz of Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, and others. He also is a fan of Nat King Cole.

“I leaned more toward jazz guitar, saxophone, and such, but I had no idea how to play any of them,” Hodrick said.

He did, however, know some basic piano chords, and began teaching himself to play. 

“My hands started to know where they are,” he said. “They just know where to go. The next thing is to sing or say words along with the songs. I’ve got to get confident at that.”

Which, like mastering the keyboard itself, can come with more practice. For Hodrick, it begins each time by finding his way to the piano, then letting his fingers do the talking by locating that all-important Middle-C.

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The Veterans Homes of California system of care offers affordable long-term care to older and disabled veterans as well as their eligible spouses and domestic partners. With eight facilities across the state, the services offered range from assisted living programs with minimal support to 24-hour skilled nursing care for veterans with significant clinical needs including memory care.

CalVet staff are uniquely capable of serving the needs of our veterans and provide an environment that honors their service to the country. The Veterans Homes are nationally recognized for the premier care and services they provide to California’s veterans. ​For more information on the Homes visit www.calvet.ca.gov/calvet-programs/veteran-homes.

Would you like the opportunity to serve veterans in your work? Join the CalVet team! We are dedicated to ensuring that veterans from every era, along with their families, receive the state and federal benefits and services they have earned and deserve due to their selfless and honorable military service. At CalVet, we prioritize serving veterans and their families with dignity, compassion, and a commitment to helping them achieve the highest quality of life. See our current career opportunities at www.calcareers.ca.gov/CalVet.