By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Lola Dodson was a tenant at Riverside Apartments before becoming its manager, but health challenges with diabetes and congestive heart failure are hastening her departure.
Dowagiac Police Department will lose one of its staunchest allies when she leaves.
She had never managed an apartment complex before Riverside.
She cared for the elderly in a nursing home.
Kevin Barry of Red Oak Management Co. in Cedar Springs, north of Grand Rapids, joined the company nine years ago.
Barry prayed that the Lord "help Lola in her journeys in the future and grant her the strength to keep being in our lives. And everyone say a little prayer for all the evacuees out of New Orleans. There's actually a chance we may have a few moving in with us temporarily and they'll need our help," with three of the 32 apartments vacant. The complex was built in 1986. She came there to live in 1993.
Police Chief Tom Atkinson presented Dodson a plaque. "I've known Lola since I was a little bitty guy out at Indian Lake. It's been a long-time friendship. If you looked in the dictionary for the definition of Neighborhood Watch, which refers to crime prevention efforts in partnership with local law enforcement, but there would be a picture of Lola Dodson.
Each summer Riverside hosts a picnic for tenants and police officers.