“Ever since she could walk and clean tables she would work at the restaurant,” says Heather Dodd of her daughter Tori. “She loved people, so, she was there all the time.”
The ‘there’ Heather is talking about is Mc’s Kountry Kitchen in Hollywood. A favorite gathering spot for locals that sits along Historic Highway 441 east of Clarkesville.
Tori was a mainstay at the restaurant during her growing up years. Her grandparents, Gary and Teresa Free of Clarkesville, own the place. Working there is a family affair. Heather and her sister Crystal pull restaurant shifts when they’re not working their regular shifts as nurses. Tori’s little sister Jordan works at Mc’s Kountry Kitchen, too.
It was in Hollywood, GA amidst the down home cooking and hometown folks that Tori Dodd found connection and purpose.
She was a light. She was a superstar in her own right before she even knew it. She brightened everyone’s day!
“Everyone who knew her loved her,” her mom says with obvious pride and delight. She describes her first born as “one of those people” who brighten other people’s lives. She tells the story of one restaurant regular who counts herself among Tori’s biggest fans. “It didn’t matter how bad she felt, Tori always found a way to compliment her and when she left she always felt better about herself.”
For Tori, giving compliments came easy. Accepting them was harder.
An aspiring model who stood just 5’2″ Tori didn’t cut the figure of an “ideal” body type, still, modeling was what she wanted to do. It consumed her in the way most people’s passions do – invigoratingly and relentlessly.
She struggled to balance her body image with her dreams, but that didn’t stop her.
“We sent her to Barbizon. She tried to do everything to make herself well-rounded. She started off doing Dance-A-Lott at a young age. Anything she could do musically she wanted to do,” explains Heather. “She played guitar. She sang at church. She loved rapping.”
After dropping out of Habersham Central High School her senior year, Tori went on to graduate from Mountain Charter High School. She enrolled in North Georgia Technical College in Clarkesville. Then, last May, another Hollywood beckoned.
The 22-year old shook loose her North Georgia ties and moved out west to Orange County, California.
“She loved modeling and wanted to see if she could advance her career,” her mom explains.
While she embraced the hope and promise of new opportunities in California, Tori still found it difficult to fully embrace herself.
“Just like any other young adult she was self-conscious and sometimes got depressed about her looks,” Heather says. “She had some modeling jobs and some outpatient therapy. She was trying to get better involved in the modeling scene and get to where she was feeling good about herself.”
On January 19, 2017 everything abruptly changed.
“The last time we heard from Tori was the day before early that morning,” recounts Heather. “She was active on Facebook and she messaged her sister and she seemed to be fine. Then, she wasn’t active for 18 hours on Facebook and we knew something was up.”
The family considered all of the possibilities – maybe she was up late, maybe she was busy…maybe. “The normal things go through your head,” Heather says.
Then, the unthinkable.
“The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office pulled up at my house.” At first it didn’t seem unusual to Heather because she has friends who work at the Sheriff’s Office. But this was not just a friendly visit. “Officer Hall gave me information that Tori had been found in Orange County and to contact the Coroner’s Office.”
Tori Paige Dodd was found dead in Laguna Beach, California. All she had on her at the time was a credit card with her name on it.
Her cause of death, according to her mom, still has not been determined.
Compounding the family’s grief, a backlog in the Orange County Coroner’s Office indefinitely delayed Tori’s return home.
“It’s horrible. It’s been one hoop after another,” Heather says through her tears. “It’s like someone is just tugging at your heart and tearing it out bit by bit because you’re helpless and, even if you were there, you couldn’t do anything.”
It’s now been nearly two weeks since the Dodds learned of their daughter’s death. “We’re doing ok,” Heather says semi-convincingly. Sweet memories of Tori and the kindness of the local community have helped. “We lean on each other. Prayers. People visiting and keeping us talking about the good things that we remember. Just the comfort of knowing that Tori’s in heaven and I know she touched a lot of people while she was here. For her to be just 22 years old she lived more than a lot of 80 year old people.”
Tori’s was a life packed with living that ended far too soon.
“She had a very bright future ahead of her. I know she had many other things she wanted to do,” her mom says wistfully. She adds, “I just think maybe she touched the right person. She’s done her job and that’s why she was called home.”
Today, Tori is coming home. Her body is due to arrive at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport aboard Delta Airlines Flight #1172 at 2:09 p.m.
McGhee-Griffin & Stewart Funeral Home will be waiting. They’ll bring Tori home to Habersham where her family will greet her one last time before saying their final goodbyes.
“I just want her to be remembered for the person we all know her to be,” says her mom. “She was a light. She was a superstar in her own right before she even knew it.”
Photos from Tori’s last modeling shoot
January 2017
(click to enlarge)
A Go Fund Me page has been set up to assist the Dodd family with travel and funeral expenses. To contribute, visit https://www.gofundme.com/the-dodds.
