Many Memories, Many Blessings
In Detroit, a celebration of Vivian Carmody and a life that should have been longer
There is a saying that the greatest gift in life is to be remembered. And having attended an extraordinary celebration of life Friday at Detroit’s Eastern Market, I’d add that we should all strive to be as well-remembered as Vivian Carmody.
Vivian was a planner who specialized in helping revitalize cities’ downtown areas. Dan Carmody, her husband, is CEO of Eastern Market — the city’s leading source of fresh, affordable local food — which has played a key role in Detroit’s ongoing renaissance and is working on a major expansion. They were a public service power couple.
On the evening of August 18, the couple was enjoying a walk to a restaurant on a quiet street near their downtown Detroit home when the unimaginable happened. A van went out of control, smashed into Vivian while shattering Dan’s right ankle. Despite what the family described as an intense effort by the hospital staff, Vivian’s injuries were so severe that she succumbed the next day.
The driver of the van was arrested and charged with causing death with a motor vehicle while intoxicated. According to police reports, he was both drunk and overdosing on drugs at the time.
People from all walks of Vivian’s life took the microphone during Friday’s Celebration of Life: Dan, her daughters, an in-law, friends, Eastern Market vendors, and colleagues from her consulting career. They described her glowingly as a dedicated, strong-willed, devotedly religious woman who loved her family deeply, made friends easily, and enjoyed a good glass of wine.
I found out about these qualities — and the fact that Vivian was a talented equestrian — on the one evening that I spent in her company... just six days before this tragedy struck.
I visited the thriving Saturday Eastern Market (40,000 people visit each week during the peak season) on August 12 at Dan’s invitation to learn about those expansion plans. While I’ve known Dan professionally for about a decade, I’d never met Vivian until the evening of that tour, when the couple graciously invited me to join them on a visit to the horse farm in Detroit’s northern suburbs owned by their friends Gary and Charlie.
I had not known that competitive carriage driving was a thing. When we arrived, I learned that not only was Gary a skilled driver, but that we would be treated to what for me was my first carriage ride.
This was no laid-back ride through the park, as the two horses trotted up and down hills and on rustic paths through woodlots. Vivian sat with Gary up front and at some point, he handed the reins to her, where she exhibited her lifetime of skills as a horsewoman. This photo I took from the passenger seat will be my lasting connection to her.
Then, over dinner prepared by the hosts accompanied by wine, we talked for hours about an eclectic range of subjects. Throughout, I was treated like an old acquaintance rather than a fifth wheel. I witnessed the charm and magnetism that earned Vivian so many friends. On the ride home, we discussed my making a return visit soon to explore Detroit’s extensive network of urban farms.
I also looked forward to a rain check for the dinner I missed at Sozai restaurant in suburban Clawson, owned by Chef Hajime Sato, who is credited with creating the category of sustainable sushi. I took a flight to Detroit that Friday afternoon and was to be picked up by the Carmodys and taken to Sozai but was thwarted by some massive airline screw-ups and a line of storms that diverted the flight to Cleveland for hours before we finally arrived at the correct destination.
Back home in Chicago a week later, I was on the computer when I noticed a Facebook share from a friend who lives near Detroit. It read, “I know you’d want to see this,” and a screenshot of the front page of a Detroit paper with the unfathomable news that Vivian was gone and Dan seriously injured.
I wrote a brief tribute to Vivian in Local Food Forum to which Dan responded to say that it provided him and the family with some comfort. When I received an invitation a few weeks later to attend the Celebration of Life, I immediately replied yes. And when the Amtrak train I was supposed to take on Friday was cancelled because of a train derailment that damaged the tracks, I rented a car and drove, returning on Saturday for a Naturally Chicago event that I had to attend in the evening.
Eastern Market, where the Celebration of Life took place, is a series of big sheds, and this event was held in Shed 5. The only other time I’d been in Shed 5 was in 2015, when a different kind of celebration was held: the grand opening of the renovated facility, which included a community kitchen for use by startup food businesses.
Hundreds of people, nearly all certainly from Detroit and many personal acquaintances of Vivian, attended the Celebration. Prior to the official ceremony, the guests were treated to a walking dinner featuring several outstanding local restaurants.
I’ll have a roundup of the restaurants later this week, but I am citing one here: Sozai, that restaurant where I was supposed to have enjoyed a memorable dinner during my August trip. The dish served was a poke salad, and it was simply the most delicious, freshest, brightest marinated seafood that I’ve ever tasted. I shook my fist anew at that airline for making me miss that meal.
There were sad and poignant moments during the ceremony, but joy and laughter too. The invitation asked people to come and make Vivian proud, and at that they succeeded grandly.
I had to hit the road Saturday morning to make it to my evening event, but before I left, I did what any self-respecting local food advocate would do: I swung back to Eastern Market to buy some Michigan produce for our Thanksgiving dinner.
And Shed 5, site of the celebration of Vivian’s life just a few hours before? Right back to selling healthy food to Market visitors.
“May their memory be a blessing” is a Jewish phrase of condolence that dates thousands of years. It has become widely familiar through its use on social media. Friday was a night of many memories and many blessings.
I knew Vivian Carmody for just a blink of time, but I will remember her always.
Thanks, Sue.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful, respectful & moving tribute about the life of Vivian Carmody & the impact she & her husband Dan have had on Detroit’s food community & the amazing Eastern Market.