Mark Roderick

About Mark

Mark Roderick lived in Rosewood, OH with his family in the house that he and his wife, April, had proudly bought just a few years ago.  Mark was the type of person that brought so much joy and laughter into everyone’s life. He was loved by all that met him.    Always quick with a complement, he loved nothing more than to make someone smile.  He lived to bring out the good in all people and all situations.  You could ask for help at any time, for anything and he would be right there. He never knew a stranger and he’d give anyone a chance or the shirt off his back.

Mark loved learning and had a wide variety of interests.  He was incredibly handy.  He loved fixing up and restoring cars, a love that he shared with his children.  Together, they worked to improve these cars, make them faster and run smoother.  He was extremely proud of the first car that he bought and restored, a ‘74 Nova that he rebuilt from the ground up.  The kids would race home from school and practice to help Mark out in the garage.  From his love of all things related to cars, to his knick-knack collections, and his love of music – he willingly and eagerly shared all of this with his family.  In addition to his skills with fixing cars, he could fix anything around the house, and if he did not know, he would teach himself.  Mark passed a lot of this knowledge on to his kids.  While he did not shy away from handing out constructive criticism, he was always encouraging and supportive of them all.

He loved his family, both the family he made with his wife and the family he was built from.  He was a child of 6 and was close with all his siblings but was especially close with his little brother, Monte. Their bond was an unbreakable one, throughout the teenage years all the way through adulthood, marriage, having children of their own and all life threw their way.  They remained best friends through it all.  Where you found one, you found the other.  Whether it was the 80’s, driving their muscle cars around town jamming to the Beastie Boys, or in 2020 at the house Mark and April had bought, walking around the yard with a metal detector, giddy and giggling like children when it would start beeping.  Mark and Monte were always laughing anytime they were together, and if you were around them there was no way you’d be able to not laugh with them until you were almost in tears.  Funnier than most professional comedians, those two were dynamic together.

He enjoyed his work at Honeywell, where he was most recently making and repairing landing lights on planes, such as B57 Bombers, and other military bombers and fighter jets.

Mark and his wife, April, were getting ready to commemorate some major milestones: April would turn 50 on January 21 and they would celebrate 24 years of marriage together in February.  The Monday before the crash, April had called off work to surprise him and spend some time together, something they didn’t often have the time to do.  Everything was as it should be:  life was good, the kids were happy, and everything felt like it was in its place.

Crash Description

On January 20, 2021, Mark headed out for his day early as usual.  It was still dark out as he traveled on a rural road when he came upon a truck stretching across the roadway backing into a driveway.  Mark did not see the truck until the last seconds when he hit his brakes, and his car crashed into the trailer.   He died from injuries he suffered in the crash. 

Life After the Crash

Earlier that morning, April had woken up early to say goodbye to Mark before he headed out for his day.  After falling back asleep to rest for her own shift later that day, April was woken a short time later by a call from the hospital telling her that Mark had been in a crash, and they could not restart his heart.  She was asked to come to the hospital to identify Mark’s body, but she knew she couldn’t do it alone, so she decided to wake their daughter, Amber, to go with her.  They then began the difficult and heartbreaking process of sharing this news with the other siblings.  Somehow, by the end of the day, they were able to all come together. 

The loss of Mark drastically impacted all their lives.  April’s birthday was the day after the crash.  While they normally did not exchange gifts, April received a package that day from Mark, who had ordered some of her favorite products.  Going from a double income to one has put tremendous strain on the family.  Simple tasks, like taking the dog to the vet, something April never had to do alone before, now falls solely on her.  She misses her partner to come home to and share their day together.  A life cut too short, with so much life to live.   

Levi and Logan have been thrust into the role of caretakers of the house.  However, Mark instilled a confidence in them that has given them the courage to take what they have already learned from him and teach themselves the rest. 

Tabi, who is getting married in a few months, now doesn’t have her dad to walk her down the aisle.   One of her favorite things about him was his relationship with her kids.  He was a great grandparent and the kids absolutely loved spending time with him.

For Amber, who was so much like Mark in so many ways, she feels like she has lost a part of herself.  Music was their shared language.  After the crash, it was too hard to listen to that same music that she loved singing with and dissecting lyrics of with her dad.  She lost the one person who she felt saw life the same as her.  In her words, “He was my superman and I never thought I would lose him.”  Amber has since moved to Florida.

Mark and his brother, Monte, the “Dynamic Duo”, will never be the same.

In June of 2022, April and her two boys traveled to Washington DC to learn more about the issues surrounding Mark’s crash.  They learned that a simple fix, such as an underride guard on the sides of trailers, could have prevented Mark’s car from going under.  They are advocating to encourage more states to add underride fields to their police accident reports so that these devastating crashes can be recorded properly.  At the time of their trip to DC, only 17 states had the proper field to categorize the specific type of crash such as underride.  The Roderick family also hopes that with an added field, additional training will be provided for law enforcement so that they understand the issues better.

Mark was the laughter, the backbone, and the glue of the family.  He is missed every day.  As difficult as his loss is, he left his family with a solid foundation, and they hope to emulate him in how to treat people and work toward finding that same positive outlook on life.