Tony Dodds

Tony was born in Rotan, Texas on September 23, 1944 to Delbert Montgomery and Doris Henri Dodds. He grew up in west Texas and at age 14 began working in the oil fields as a roughneck. He continued working in the west Texas oil fields and off shore in Louisiana and put his earnings towards his college education. He enrolled at Abilene Christian University in 1964. It was there, at Abilene Christian, that Tony’s life changed forever when he met Sharon Suman.

They married 1 ½ years after graduation and settled in Houston. Ten years later Tony and Sharon welcomed their one and only child, their son Flynn. As Sharon knew he would be, Tony was everything a father should be and immeasurably more. He was active in all aspects of Flynn’s life. From driving the family thousands of miles on summer vacations, to coaching endless baseball games, to helping with a wide array of Boy Scout activities. No matter the activity or interest, Tony was always there

(even if he never changed a single diaper in his life…).

Flynn later went on to attend the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, and it was there that he met a very special classmate, Sharon Silvers. It wasn’t long before they were inseparable and in October 2011 Flynn and Sharon wed. It didn’t take long before the two gave Tony and Sharon the greatest gift of all, their first grandchild, Stella.

Tony had a strong work ethic and provided well for his family. He spent close to 20 years with St. Luke’s, Texas Children’s, and Texas Heart Institute as well as several years with the Texas Medical Center. For the last 15 years he had been with MHMRA of Harris County in their Facility Services Department as Assistant Director, working with his friends Paul Wilson, Vinny, Oscar, Frankie, Lisa, K.C., and the crew.

In true Tony fashion, he worked a full day on the day that would be his last. It was his wife’s birthday and he brought dinner home for her, Flynn, and little Stella. He had a wonderful final night playing and laughing and just being ridiculous with little Stella until she and her dad left as it was getting late. Early the next morning, about 2 am, Tony quietly left us. Ever since his heart surgery in 2009, Tony’s strength had been slowly ebbing and while we know he wasn’t ready to leave us, his time unfortunately came.

He always said that he wanted his family to have “Everything they needed, and most of what they wanted”. He stayed true to those words and spent his entire life making sure that his family was provided for and taken care of, always putting his family first and himself second. His biggest regret he would say would be not having more time with his granddaughter. He loved his family dearly, but everyone took a backseat to his granddaughter, “Tooter Dodds” as he called her. We are thankful he had the three years he did with her, and he would tell you they were the very best of his life.

Tony is survived by his wife of 46 years Sharon, his son Flynn Suman Dodds, daughter-in-law Sharon and his beloved granddaughter Stella. He is also survived by his mother-in-law Dorothy Suman, his brother and sister-in-laws Don and Missy Suman, and his nephew Tom Dodds and his wife Maggie.