Approximately 70 people attended the celebration of life including Alan his best friend from Alaska who had often been in on some of Mark's adventures and Austin neighbors friends and former co-workers. He didn't die from cancer although he had experienced stage IV cancer of the esophagus at the gastric junction with metastasis to the liver. He had a second unrelated renal cell cancer removed from one kidney. He died following a fall on his marble floor in Thailand. He came to Houston to have surgery on June 29th this year for a burst fracture of his L-1 vertebrae. He died August 10 of Staph Aureus Septicemia.
There is a memorial fund to honor Mark. The fund will pay for bookcases being built in a school in Reynosa, Mexico. The school had no books for borrowing by the children. Mark's mother and people recruited by her, bought as well as collected numerous boxes of children's books in Spanish and English and arranged for them to be delivered to the school. Since there was no room for a library or money for a librarian, bookcases are being built in each classroom. Mark was an avid reader and had a wonderful memory for what he had read over the years. He would love this project. If you want to donate to this fund please make your check out to Rotary Club of Austin University Foundation and address your envelope to Rotary Club of Austin University FoundationC/O Ron Lantz Treasurer, 9517 Ketona Cove, Austin 78759
No comments:
Post a Comment