FRONT PAGE Life Story: Fanny Hill’s ‘shining star’ lit the way for decades

Lois Hodgins, longtime actress and group sales director for former noted venue dies at age 61

After working in a profession — and doing it well — for decades, one can garner a reputation.

And so it was for Lois Hodgins, who for 35 years acted in productions and was group sales director for Fanny Hill Inn & Dinner Theatre near Eau Claire.

“I think Lois was certainly the face of theater in Eau Claire,” said Dennis Heyde, who owned the business before it closed in 2014. “Her whole life was Fanny Hill.”

Hodgins died April 25 in Eau Claire. She was 61. She lives on in the memories of those who knew her, who say they’ll remember her passionate, caring spirit and attitude that made anyone feel like her best friend.

In the words of Linda Heyde, Dennis Heyde’s wife, Hodgins simply “was Fanny Hill.” It’s where she met and married her husband, Don, the venue’s theater director. It’s where she worked so hard, Dennis Heyde said, they sometimes had to shoo her out.

Both Heydes remember Hodgins as a team member who tirelessly — and with a shining attitude — helped wherever needed, whether that be through her role as group sales director or carrying banquet trays. Plus, Linda Heyde said, she was a great actress.

“She was a shining star,” she said. “She just lit up a room wherever she went. She was who you gravitated to.”

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