Margie Hodas-Walsh

The Navy slogan when I joined was “Step Inside for A Real Adventure”, and an adventure it was for 25 years and continues to be.

The oldest of four children, I was born and raised on Long Island, New York to immigrant parents.  Mom made sure I had opportunities she didn’t have and dad was my inspiration to serve my country as he had in the U.S. Army.  I attended Towson State University, taught school in Baltimore, Maryland for five years and then joined the Navy.

I was fortunate to meet my husband, Steve Walsh, a USNA 1975 graduate at the end of my first tour at Trident Training Facility, Bangor, Washington.  I wonder how many times our paths crossed on Route 95 on the east coast?  I was from New York, Steve was from New Jersey and we both were attending school in Maryland.  I married my knight in shining armor in 1986.  We would take turns each duty station making sure it would enhance both of our Navy career paths.  Another Navy slogan offered me exactly what I wanted to do, “Join the Navy, See the World!”  The Navy took me on that trip from Naval Reactors, Washington, D.C.; Moffett Field, California; Adak, Alaska; Hawaii; Navy War College; Pentagon; and the United Kingdom.  Most memorable are my tours with the P-3 Training Squadron (earning the name/call sign Haagen-Dazs), department head tour in Adak, executive officer tour at Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) Honolulu (Guam, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, American Samoa and Pohnpei) and with the family in London traveling all over Europe (including meeting relatives in Slovakia) and Africa.

During our tours we were blessed to adopt three children:  Richard from Tblisi, Republic of Georgia and Mckenzie and Patrick from Ulyanovsk, Russia.  Our family continues to grow with our oldest, Richard, a USMC Communications Officer and his wife Crystal now stationed in Okinawa, Japan.  Patrick is a CDL driver who lives and works in Fredericksburg, Virginia and our youngest, Mckenzie, recently married Coste an air traffic controller outside of Jacksonville, Florida.  Steve and I currently live in Summerville, South Carolina and continue to enjoy retirement, our USNA family at ’75 football tailgates, hobbies and traveling.

So, how did we become part of GOATs Row 2027?  At a tailgate, Chuck Geyer asked me to encourage Steve to row for the GOATs Row charity.  As I visited the website, I saw names of women also rowing.  I said, let’s do it together!  Now I’ve been recruiting other LADY GOATs. 

GO NAVY!