PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
The REPORTER
38 Port St. Lucie Magazine
ANTHONY INSWASTY
The Haitian sculpture towers in Mary Dodge’s
Port St. Lucie living room. Hand-carved out of
ebony-colored wood, it shares space with many
other artifacts and artworks from the veteran
journalist’s travels.
Dodge bought the sculpture in the 1970s in Nassau
where she met husband, Jack, and has hauled it along
on every move since, evoking the protagonist in the
1982 film “Fitzcarraldo” who was determined to drag a
boat overland from river to river.
Jack named the Haitian female bust “Molly,” a witty
take on Mary’s folly. It speaks to Dodge’s persistence
and fascination with intriguing places.
So, it was fitting that Dodge settled in Port St. Lucie,
a place colorful in its own right back in 1980 when she
arrived to work as a stringer for the Palm Beach Times. Its
population that year was under 15,000, less than a 10th
of what it is today at roughly 185,000.
In those days Port St. Lucie possessed a spirit of
adventure and comparing it to the Wild West is not a
stretch, she says. Cowboys, pioneers, outlaws and prospectors
— the same cast of characters in the Old West
occupied Port St. Lucie.
“The first week here I drove west of Florida’s Turnpike
and saw a vulture eating a rattlesnake,” she recalls,
while sitting in her cozy condo in old Port St. Lucie
where early General Development Corp. homes are now
appreciated for their mid-20th century modern design.
“After seeing that I thought, ‘I’ve gone far enough,’ ”
she says. “Drug traffickers were landing planes out
there. At that time, the city had no police force and only
one officer who patrolled at night.”
After the Times folded, “going the way of a lot of
evening newspapers,” as she notes, Dodge, 77, held
positions with the Scripps-owned Stuart/Port St. Lucie
News, including Port St. Lucie bureau chief. She retired
from there in 1996.
The couple spent the next 20 years traveling. Dodge
also started a novel inspired by untamed Port St. Lucie
and its environs circa 1980. The Reel Hot Summer channels
the craziness of South Florida in the style of Carl
Hiaasen and is sold by Amazon Digital Services.
Despite traveling far and wide, the couple is rooted
in Port St. Lucie. A native Canadian, Jack became a
U.S. citizen about 10 years ago after she told him if he
was going to complain about U.S. politics he should be
eligible to vote. Jack worked in radio, most recently as
morning announcer for station WQCS in Fort Pierce, the
NPR station for the Treasure Coast.
Today, Dodge devotes much time to local organizations,
serving as secretary for the Port St. Lucie Historical
Society and volunteering for the St. Lucie Audubon
Society and other agencies.
“She’s just a treasure and is always volunteering for
whatever she can,” observes friend Christine Williams,
who is treasurer for the historical society and hus-
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BY JESSICA ARMSTRONG
Mary Dodge, a longtime
journalist, poses with her
Haitian sculpture named
Molly in her cozy Port St.
Lucie home.