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Mark Dove

October 4, 1932 – September 21, 2024

 

 

Memorial Service

Peace, Love and Gratitude for the life of Mark Dove and the Legacy he left in our hearts and the footprints of the future. Grace & Peace

          ~~  Wanda Holcombe

 

 

Mark’s contributions to individuals and communities are countless. Here in Cincinnati area Saturday Hoops has engaged teenagers  in character building activities for 20 years. It was started by church member Ed Berg and continues with his daughter Nancy Costello and her husband.  She was recognized as a Woman of the Year last October and I am exploring ways Hoops might fit in our church neighborhood.

          ~~  Judy Lindblad

 

 

When I was in the Cleveland Religious House, Mark was our closest ministry colleague. I remember him well. He had 92 beautiful years of life.

          ~~. Herman Greene

 

 

Dear Janelle and family, I write with gratitude for my memories of working with Mark in the Local Church Experiment. I recall our times in Chicago as fun mixed with hard work. We encouraged ourselves in real strategic thinking on behalf of the Church and its opportunity for renewal. Gratitude for a life lived abundantly. xoxo

          ~~  Isobel Bishop

 

 

 

John and I have just watched Mark’s memorial service and were honored to be present in this virtual way. The service was at Friendship Village in Dublin, OH where they have been part of the community for a number of years.  Although they considered having the service in one of the churches that Mark helped start, it had been 25 years ago and probably no one there would have known him, so they chose his more recent community.

 

The officiant,  Rev. Susan Kiser, was one of Mark’s student pastors in his early ministry, who spoke of the trust and confidence Mark placed in her as a woman in ministry, not so common then.  Janelle shared that Susan was a strong support for them as a family and the church during the time of their daughter Shelley’s illness and death.

 

In the video of the service,  Susan spoke of Mark’s love of the church and his training with the Ecumenical Institute which had a powerful impact on his life and vision of the church.  She also commended his vision of giving his children the opportunity to spend time in other countries:  Tim-Paraguay, Shelley-India, and Todd in Japan.

 

In talking about marks of Mark’s ministry: loving one’s enemies and caring for the neediest, Susan shared from Janelle’s little book Reflections on the Journey of Jesus in Haiku Form.  The book is part of the Archives’ book section and may be read there.  https://icaglobalarchives.org/

 

We celebrate a life well used to help build the future.  We celebrate the team in ministry that Mark and Jenelle and their family demonstrated.

With grateful hearts we remember Mark Dove’s work with the Local Church Experiment, and our friendship which was renewed when one of their grandsons was in music school in Greensboro, NC.

 

We enjoyed Mark and Janelle’s visits through Greensboro and getting to attend with them several wonderful concerts of their Jazz Musician grandson Rob Dove, as well as to meet Mark and Janelle’s son Tim and wife Lisa.   The trips to their summer home in Hilton Head, SC,  were frequently scheduled around Rob’s concerts.  In return, they graciously hosted us in Hilton Head during our NC winter months several times, and Mark and John enjoyed playing golf together.  Mark introduced us to a minister friend who was looking for an RS-I kind of event for his congregation, and we led an RS-I retreat on a beautiful little beach town where John Wesley had preached, which led to further experimentation on the power of RS-I in various forms.

 

Another special memory of Mark came from a time when we lived in Galax, VA.  Ruth and Ken Gilbert had taken a “traveling doc” assignment to Galax during that time.  When we learned that a youth RS-I was being planned in Chicago, we loaded a van full of family teens, plus Jono and friend, and headed north, stopping at the Lindblad’s gracious Wayside Inn on the way.   Mark Dove, Lynn Edwards, and Priscilla Woods were the pedagogues for the course.   What a delightful team to educate our younger generation.

 

We send our love and care to Janelle and family. Grace and peace, and celebration of a life fully lived in service,

          ~~  Lynda and John Cock

 

 

Dear Friends,

I remember the Local Church Lab that was held in Mark and Janell’s Church  It was the beginning of the Movement/ Order experience for many of us and the meeting of friends and colleagues that has continued until this day. I’m grateful for the Journey with each one of you.  Sent with love,

     ~~  Nancy Lanphear

 

 

It all started for me at Friendship United Methodist Church and Mark Dove in Cincinnati.  I confessed to Mark my frustration that we weren’t engaged in the important issues of our time and he sent Frank and I to RS1.  Things changed quickly for all of us.  Finally we heard that a PLC was scheduled and of course we recruited Mark to go.  Closer to the time of the course Frank and I wondered if he really was going to go so we doubled down on Mark to get there.  And he did finally go.  Years later he confessed that he really wasn’t going to go and that we pushed him into it.  As many of you know from your own experience it was a wild ride.  Wouldn’t have missed it for anything. Mark has always been on my meditative council.

          ~~  Joan Knutson