Donnie Corker, aka Dirtwoman, is immortalized outside the former Mamma Zu restaurant in Oregon Hill. (Photo by Mark Newton)
A tribute to one of Richmond’s most colorful characters is now built to last.
The metal portrait of Donnie Corker, also known as Dirtwoman and, among other exploits, the centerpiece of the former Central Virginia Food Bank holiday fundraiser Hamaganza, was created shortly after the Oregon Hill native’s death in 2017. The memorial, engraved onto an iron manhole cover, was installed near his family home at the corner of South Pine and Spring streets, where Corker could be frequently seen peeling garlic for the now-closed restaurant Mamma Zu. Beneath the plaque is a bingo pen, used for one of his favorite hobbies.
“Nothing seemed more appropriate than a manhole cover to commemorate Donnie,” says Chris Dovi, Corker’s “longtime accidental manager” and executive director of computer science nonprofit CodeVA. Unfortunately, it turned out that the iron plaque was no match for the elements. “We installed it, and then within like two weeks it had rusted and the laser engraving disappeared,” Dovi says.
Upgrading the plaque proved difficult until Dan Resler, a friend of Dovi and Corker and an associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, got in touch.
“About a year ago, I texted Chris and said, ‘We’ve got to do something about this, nobody can read this,’” Resler says. “I told him that if he’d get it done, I’d bankroll it.”
Dovi then reached out to Aaron Reinhard of Laser Engraving Pros in Lakeside, who had engraved the manhole cover, to laser-cut a steel plate, which was welded on top of the iron plaque in January.
Dovi and Resler agree that Corker represented a truly unique and weird part of Richmond worth remembering, and Dovi notes that the memorial has attracted visitors from outside the area.
“Love him or hate him,” Resler says, “he was iconic and he was very, very Richmond.”
