Contributor vendor Mark Dodd died in mid-April after being struck by a car on West End Avenue.
Dodd, 55, was remembered by Contributor staff as a loving man who relished times with friends. Here are their memories of him:
“Mark had a soft, twangy voice that could usually be heard making some dry-witted, deadpan joke, but he was also the kindest of humans.
The first time I chatted with Mark, I asked if there was anything he wanted me to tell the team, and he just said, ‘Tell them I love them, and I’m thankful for everything they’re doing.’
Once I began working with Mark, almost every time we departed, he would say: ‘I love you.’ I thought this was a little odd at first but soon realized this wasn’t something he just said to me. He and I had a conversation about it once, and he said he used to not be comfortable saying I love you, but he decided after everything that happened in his life, all the family and friends he’d lost, not knowing what would happen next, he’d say it.
Mark relished cooking and could not wait to have his own kitchen so he could rustle up some fine meals for himself and friends. When I asked what his favorite meal was, he said, ‘You’re going to think this is weird,’ he paused looking at me with a gleeful side eye and grin, ‘It’s liver and onions… with mash potatoes and pinto beans.’
He’d also use his catch phrase, ‘God loves you and so do I’ when saying goodbye to almost anyone. He declared it to doctors, property managers, to the teller at the Social Security Office and to the police officer asking him to leave a parking lot.
Mark moved into his own apartment this March and was able to prepare some of his country cooking and sit around a table (in his case, a coffee table) to share the meal with friends. On the first day he did this, he told me he was sitting there looking around at the faces of his friends in his apartment, and he just couldn’t believe it was happening.
Mark will be exceedingly missed. And we all love you too, Mark.” — Mary-Margaret Weatherford
“Every time I saw Mark, he was smiling. It didn’t matter what he was going through, or what his situation was. He was always thanking God, and always radiating joy. He was relentlessly kind.
Nothing life threw at him disturbed his beautiful spirit, and love for others. The world is a little bit dimmer without him in it. I dearly miss him, and his light, and his love for life.” — Carli Tharpe