Our friend, Marc Johnigan
Marc had superpowers.
He dripped recovery and it was contagious. He had a way of inviting people along and helping them find a place for themselves in his vision. You couldn’t help but get excited listening to him talk about his plans.
He was authentic and flawed and didn’t pretend to be anything else.
He had the ability to sidestep nonsense and get to the heart of our work in a way that most of us envied. He was as at home meeting with people off the street as he was meeting with the Surgeon General.
When I first got to know Marc, he had just started the social club in a little building off of Lake Street. Him and Joe, Ms. Yonova Eason, Derrick, Gary and Ms. LaTricia Tate and lots of other people he enlisted would be doing the work of recovery— the important stuff.
Marc taught me what the important stuff looked like.
They would be buzzing around every time I dropped in, sweeping and mopping and making themselves available to anyone and everyone. We would sit outside behind the tire shop and he would holler at people he knew walking on Lake Street, which I’m pretty sure was 90% of the people who would walk by... Him and Joe would share their vision for changing our systemic responses to suffering people and how they interact with the police.
He would talk about his family and his mother’s experience in Dayton, the importance of community and his plans for the future. We chased every single grant that was even somewhat related, and one day, we were successful.
We were sitting outside and had been talking for almost an hour. I was about to leave and was saying goodbye when he said, “Oh yeah, we got the grant.” His lack of excitement floored me. I had been thinking and worrying about this thing for weeks! I asked him what we were going to do to celebrate and he told me he hadn’t even thought about it.
You had to love it.
For a guy who had just won an award for a huge federal grant, he seemed way more interested what the club was going to be doing for music that weekend. I pushed to have a celebration and he shared with me that it wasn’t good timing because he was thinking about starting some grief and trauma programming and needed to prepare. That was his gentle way of steering people back to his vision.
While he participated in more and more prestigious national projects and trainings, he was always focused on the real, actual work. His conference, The Boots on the Ground Conference, was born out of this vision. His work to create the Dayton Recovery Project was born of this vision. His determination and leadership ensured the prioritization of the health and well-being of his community.
Marc’s faith freaked me out, honestly.
I remember when the old building was sold and Marc told the board that we needed to look for a new space. I asked when he was thinking of moving, and he said, “probably August.” It was July. There was absolutely no way that this was going to work, but he seemed pretty calm, so I just went along for the ride.
A week before the deadline, TCRP moved into the 3400 East Lake building, as the realtor (in recovery himself) negotiated with the landlord (who he had worked with many times before). Marc was calm the entire time, like he knew it would all work out. And it did.
Even when it didn’t work out it worked out.
This is my favorite picture of Marc.
We had just completed a training and it went terribly. It was easily the worst training I have ever done, and I did 100 trainings a year for several years. I was embarrassed and ashamed of myself and felt terrible for putting the guys I brought along into a bad situation. Marc told me to stop the car. He shined his magnetic grin and calmly shared that this was a beautiful day and got out. He asked me to take a picture of him next to this sign.
This was the exact same place that he was processed when he went to prison. He was returning as an expert and evangelist — sharing what is possible for all people, regardless of what we might have done or our past transgressions.
I was pulled out of myself and was able to bear witness to one of the best things about recovery — being present for these moments.
I don’t know the words to express this moment’s power.
All of us could be somewhere else, experiencing the pain or repercussions of our previous behavior. Most of us in recovery hold this close.
Many of us have come to the conclusion that we should work tirelessly to make sure there is a reason that we are here. Marc inspired so many people to find that reason. His unique ability to match interests and abilities with opportunities to spread hope and healing is worthy of lifelong pursuit for the rest of us.
I have been numb after getting the news and have spent last night and this morning watching the outpouring of love for this man and everyone he has touched. It is incredible.
With people like Marc, I think his power comes from us all feeling like there is a small part of him that was special to each of us.
To his family, Ms. LaTricia, and his families at TCRP and in Detroit and Dayton — thank you for sharing him with us.
We pray you find healing and pledge to support our continued work.
With Love,
Jordan, Jeff, Phil, Kevin and the rest of the YourPath team