My neighbor, Charles Corda, lived with his 95 year-old mother across the street from us. Enjoying her dementia, Mae Corda would sing popular songs from the 1940's behind their French blue gate to anyone passing by. She had an exceptional voice. 
We found her delightful and Charles would smile, growling in his thick Bronx accent, "She may be nuts but she's happy, and, strong as an ox. She'll probably outlive me."
She did. Yesterday Charles, 66, died of an apparent heart attack on his back porch. His mother was not present as she had moved to a nursing facility two years ago. Mr. C is survived by his mother, a sister, daughters Marissa and Samantha, and his faithful Basset hound, "Chuck".
Last week the retired architect/interior designer told me he was moving to Utah, "Someone's offering me 'one point four' and I'm ready to go." I didn't like hearing this because lately he had become a "save the Grove" activist. Charles helped us fight monster projects, -like Grove Bay- that threaten what we love about our village.
He then invited me into his house, "Come on in. You may want my horse barn" (which he pronounced, "bon"). I toured the yellow, 1940's house filled with packed boxes and bunched paintings. It looked like he was going somewhere.He offered me a few of his art works including the meticulously crafted horse stable. It was complete with ten horse statuettes and equestrian hurdles. He had made this incredible tableau for Samantha, the youngest of his daughters. Taking up an entire six-foot table, it was not meant for me.
I did accept a wooden manikin which I promptly named, "Charles".
My neighbor had a large camper and big plans, "I'm moving to Springdale, Utah, next to Zion National Park. It's perfect there". He added, "I'll buy a little house and spend the rest of my days in God's own country".
He did move but sooner than expected. They rolled his body into a large white van last night. Hopefully he did make it to God's country.
_______________
On 11-17 thirty of us attended a memorial gathering for Charles on at a Grove art gallery. His paintings and photographs were all around us. During the gathering, led my his lovely daughters, we learned more about his life and heard good news about his
canine companion, Chuck. He's been adopted by person who enjoys "older dogs"!
Comment: canine companion, Chuck. He's been adopted by person who enjoys "older dogs"!
I will miss him. As a local activist, he was great at doing research and making complicated problems (and crimes) easy to understand.
And yes, Charles spoke truth to power.
Peter R. Ehrlich, Jr.
Lemon City,
Miami, Florida
I am very sorry to hear of his passing. I will miss him.
ReplyDeleteThe Charles Coda I knew lived in Brooklyn. We lived on the same street and
ReplyDeletewere in some of the same classes.We traveled to Brooklyn Tech High School on the subway every morning. He wanted to be an architect and he achieved his dream. He was smart, funny, a ladies man I thought.
We lost contact over the years and saddened to hear of his death. Love to hear from his kids. Respectfully, Bruce.
I went to Tech with him…sad to hear of his passing at a relatively young age. We also attended Roy H. Mann Jr. HS in Brooklyn.
DeleteI'm saddened to learn today of Charles' death. Real sad. I worked for Charles one summer before my last year in college. I learned so much from him that summer. He sold me on moving to NYC after college and 20 years after we had lunch at Greenstreets to catch up on the past 20 years. He was exactly the same. I will miss him dearly and will pray tonight for him. -Juan A
ReplyDeleteCharlie & I went to RISD together and reconnected years later when we discovered we both won photographic awards in an international competition: the Color Awards. we emailed & talked frequently; Charlie came to visit me in Maine & I came down to visit him in Miami (with a surprise visit from Bad Santa, Jimmy Secky). Late in 2018 I noticed that he had not returned my emails ... and my fears were confirmed when I read his obituary. Needless to say I am sad that I have lost a good friend and fellow artist.
ReplyDeleteI never had the pleasure of meeting his daughters; if anyone knows how to contact them or would be kind enough to contact them & give them my contacts, I would be very grateful as I have some photos taken of Charlie that they may like to have; both recent and from RISD days. Christopher Morse. cemorsephoto.com. 207-415-3763