When Andrew asked me to write this obituary, he said in his email: ìVictoria should be remembered by an obituary - could you write one? Then again she always told me she hated Vivid so I don't know whether it is appropriate or not.î This quote from Andrew's email says a lot about Victoria. She was deeply opinionated and brutally honest. She used to say, ìI'm the one who speaks out loud the cartoon bubbles above everyone's heads.î As I sit writing this, I am surrounded by notes in her elegant, but big, always big, handwriting. She was co-writing a script and supposed to meet me on Monday for the final day of revision. A photo of her, with her volcanic blue eyes, glares at me. If someone asked you if you'd ever met Victoria, you would never say, I don't know ñ her enormous presence would not allow for it. She was one of the most loving and certainly the most passionate person I've ever known and she stayed true to herself throughout her life. She raised an extraordinary 18-year-old daughter, Eden Dodd, through plenty of difficult times and they were inseparable, despite it all. Her passionate love relationship with fiancée Robert Harman lasted for over four years and never lost any of its fire. She was from Arkansas, but I'd have to say, her heart was in Manhattan. Nothing was ever dull or ordinary around Victoria, whether it was taking our cats to the vet for a double neutering or discussing who would play the lead in the script we were writing: Clive Owen or Ed Burns. She had an amazing knack of being able to create a gourmet meal out of a barren refrigerator and a withered bunch of scallions. She had an eerie insight into people's inner desires and shortcomings which she delivered in her typical abrupt way. She could break open something inside people; you either embraced it or shied away from it. She was a talented writer, actor and teacher who cared deeply about the artistic quality of any of her endeavours. She studied acting in Manhattan for almost ten years. Meisner, in particular. She wrote and produced a one-woman play, which was performed in New York, Amsterdam and Bucharest. She had been teaching her first acting class in Romania. Her unique personality touched all those who met her and traces of her will be lingering in our lives forever. She is survived by her mother, Doris; her brother, James; her fiancée, Robert; Oscar the cat; Nora the dog; the new puppy she acquired on Sunday, and all her friends. So is it inappropriate that an obituary should appear in a magazine she claimed to hate? Of course it is, but then again, was Victoria ever worried about appropriateness? Laureen Vonnegut

Caroline Eden Dodd could light up a room with her smile. She loved acting, dance, singing, and poetry, especially the poetry of Sylvia Plath. She also loved people and her friends were many. Eden attended Simon Baruch Junior High in New York City before moving to Romania with her mother in 1997. She enrolled at the American International School of Bucharest in November of that year and immediately made an impact in the school. As her school counselor said, ìEden lit up our school with her energy and enthusiasm for life. When we heard her voice at school shows or plays, we wanted to hear more.î Eden was a good friend and a joy to those who knew her best. Having recently returned to Romania from India, Eden was once again sharing with us her love of life and her infectious smile. We pray for peace for her soul and wish her to know that she will be missed. Lynn Wells