After graduating from Valley, Mark and I worked in theater productions at Santa Ana College and later UCI. After university we followed different paths but kept in touch. Because we still both lived in Southern California after our Army days, we met from time to time pursuing our quest to sample every Thai restaurant in LA. But then he headed east, eventually receiving his PhD from the University of Toronto.
I last saw him in 1993 when he'd returned from Christchurch, New Zealand, upon his farther's death. He came back to settle up family matters and to collect his mother to bring her to Christchurch to an apartment he had bought for her. I was living in the high-desert east of Palmdale at the time, and he stayed with me and my then wife for a number of days. He appreciated the vast openness of the desert. He reflected that he regretted not having been able to visit the Northwest Territories when he lived in Canada. He had wanted to experience the pristine quality of the Arctic.
In 2008 Mark suffered a fall down a flight of stairs at his home that left him a paraplegic. After a long period of recovery and rehabilitation, he returned to his teaching duties at University of Canterbury in Christchurch, teaching his classes from a wheelchair. Writing about returning to his teaching duties, Mark spoke of his profound satisfaction that he "still had game."
Additional health issues led to his retirement from full-time teaching in June of 2011. He had hoped to be able to return to the lecture hall in a part-time capacity. But a combination of health issues struck him down on January 23, 2012.
Daniel Kona
Mark was part of the gang I hung out with. After the Army he got a PhD in psychology. He was lecturing at the University of Canterbury when he died.
David Vincent
After graduating from Valley, Mark and I worked in theater productions at Santa Ana College and later UCI. After university we followed different paths but kept in touch. Because we still both lived in Southern California after our Army days, we met from time to time pursuing our quest to sample every Thai restaurant in LA. But then he headed east, eventually receiving his PhD from the University of Toronto.
I last saw him in 1993 when he'd returned from Christchurch, New Zealand, upon his farther's death. He came back to settle up family matters and to collect his mother to bring her to Christchurch to an apartment he had bought for her. I was living in the high-desert east of Palmdale at the time, and he stayed with me and my then wife for a number of days. He appreciated the vast openness of the desert. He reflected that he regretted not having been able to visit the Northwest Territories when he lived in Canada. He had wanted to experience the pristine quality of the Arctic.
In 2008 Mark suffered a fall down a flight of stairs at his home that left him a paraplegic. After a long period of recovery and rehabilitation, he returned to his teaching duties at University of Canterbury in Christchurch, teaching his classes from a wheelchair. Writing about returning to his teaching duties, Mark spoke of his profound satisfaction that he "still had game."
Additional health issues led to his retirement from full-time teaching in June of 2011. He had hoped to be able to return to the lecture hall in a part-time capacity. But a combination of health issues struck him down on January 23, 2012.
Yes, Mark had game—right to the end.
I miss him.