Ken Dodge lived large. His loves were intense: Corvairs and convertibles, sailboats and Saint Bernards, pretty women and treasured friends. Always up for the next adventure, he moved on from his earthly life on June 18, 2024, after fighting through years of health challenges.
When circumstances reduced his mobility, Ken engaged the world through social media, frequently revealing his mischievous sense of humor as he reflected on life, shared an occasional original poem, and quoted 1960s-70s pop lyrics as “song challenge” brainteasers. One of the last challenges he posted was “Rollin’ on, to the bitter end,” and his final Facebook post was a simple yet profound “TY!” for “thank you!”
Ken retired to lake life with a canoe and a Hobie Cat in Beaverton, Michigan, following a 20-year teaching career in Flint Community Schools where he kindled the spark of learning in countless children. He learned Spanish to teach migrant children during summers, worked with special-needs students, and coached for Special Olympics. Outside of school, he served as a Big Brother through Big Brothers Big Sisters. Through this program he developed a long-term friendship with his little brother, Ryan Clark
After graduating from Flint Southwestern Academy in 1985, Ken earned his education degree from the University of Michigan-Flint in 1990 while working for the university as a security guard.
In the middle of his teaching career, after 9/11, Ken fulfilled his duty to country and a lifelong ambition by joining the U.S. Navy Reserve and serving a tour of duty at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily. He was nearly twice the age of other recruits in boot camp at 33 but ready for the challenge. Denied a request for advanced swim qualifications due to his age, he pushed back and successfully completed the challenge
Ken was drawn to numerous projects in life and tackled each one with gusto – whether fixing up antique cars including his cherished Corvairs (and if the sun was out, it was warm enough to put the top down), rescuing a classic Alden wooden sailing yacht in Bay City, repairing rental housing in his Flint neighborhood, or training his beloved but challenging Saint Bernards.
He also was a lifelong amateur visual artist and writer with a poet’s sensitive soul.
“I might not be able to see so well, but your face is painted on my heart,” he shared recently in a twist on a song lyric. “Thank God for my friends and family! … Your faces are painted on my heart … forever.”
Taking stock of life, he quoted a verse he had written years before: “I found the balance at age twenty-two, between working for life and living it, too.”
“I decided that working hard is cool, but LIVE it,” he said, noting that he had packed many lives into his then-56 years – “the sailing, the top-down time (way too fast), the loves and the losses. Life owes me NOTHING. … I did EVERYTHING, while I was young enough to enjoy it. So, whatever happens? I had three lives worth of life.”
One unmet dream, sailing around the globe, he reserved for another life.
Ken was born March 27, 1967, in Flint, Michigan, to mom Nancy Olson. Dad Edward Dodge died when Ken was a young boy. Grandparents Loren (June) and Mary Dodge and Andrew and Elizabeth Olson were active in Ken’s life through childhood and into his adult years. The beneficiary of several formative mentoring relationships, Ken liked to say a single act of kindness could change someone’s world.
Nancy survives along with her partner, Mike Talbert. Other friends and family treasuring Ken’s memory include many cousins and “sister” Jaynie Coggins. Ken also was married three times and remained friends with two of his wives. As Meatloaf and Ken would say, Two out of three ain’t bad.
Ken would be honored by your gifts to Big Brothers Big Sisters in his memory. Family and friends will gather for a memorial service at a later date to be announced.
Arrangements are in the care of Hall-Kokotovich Funeral Home. www.hallkokotovichfuneralhome.com
