Mark Olen Brown

Thank you for coming to this site to honor our brother, Mark O. Brown. As some of you know, Mark passed from this life on Wednesday, 12/11/24.

I want to honor my sweet brother Mark by telling you all the many wonderful things he did with his 64 years.

1. He attended Sahuaro High School and then Pima Community College, as well as completing firefighting training.

2. He and his wife of 24 years, Christi Brown, raised a beautiful daughter, Melissa Renee, who graduates this May from osteopathic medical school. She will carry on his legacy of caring for others.

3. He had faith that Jesus was his Savior. This fact provides peace to those of us he left behind.

4. He faithfully served in the church for many years.

5. He loved collecting and listening to Christian music.

6. He was an avid backpacker. His goal was to climb the tallest mountain in every state. He did not complete all 50 states, but he did tackle Mt. Rainier in Washington, Wheeler Peak in New Mexico, Humphreys Peak in Arizona, and Mt. Whitney in California. He shared many wonderful hikes in and around Tucson with many of his good friends. This is how we choose to remember Mark, breathing in the crisp mountain air, in the winter, atop of the Rincon mountains with his buddies (and pooping from the fire tower as well). Yes, he really did do that. That was our Mark.

7. He had his own landscaping business for over 40 years. He was a very hard worker and took pride in doing a good job at a fair price for his customers. Many of his customers were elderly and he would take time to listen to them and get to know them. He gained their trust through hard work and kindness.

8. He had great sense of humor and loved to laugh. He had a big toothy grin that we loved.

9. He loved his dogs, one of whom he & his wife rescued. This dog was pregnant, they knew it and rescued her anyway, working hard together to raise her pups.

10. Mark saved the life of a child who had wandered away from a campground in Silverton, Colorado. Mark was on a hike and came across the young boy. He ended his hike immediately and carried the boy all the way back down to the mountain to camp, delivering him in his mother’s arms. He was a hero that day and they took him out for a steak dinner.

11. He was honest. As a young man he found someone stealing gems at the Tucson Gem & Mineral show. He knew he had to let the authorities know which was hard because he knew that person as a friend.

12. In his younger years he enjoyed collecting gems and minerals.

We thank each one of you who knew and loved Mark and brought JOY into his life. Please hang on to those memories of Mark. Will you honor Mark by writing a short description of a fun time you had with him and posting a picture if you have one?

Sadly, Mark took his own life. Most people don’t want to share that kind of information, but we do. We want others to know that Mark struggled with many layers of unprocessed hurt, disappointment and anger. As humans we all share these emotions and Mark was no different. When you are in that very dark place, things that shouldn’t make sense, do. It seems right to do whatever you have to do to stop the pain. We encourage everyone to process your own pain with someone you trust. Consider seeing a pastor, counselor or therapist. For those who are Christians, you can find many wonderful faith-based counselors. Check to see if your insurance or Employee Assistance Program (EAP) will cover it. Having someone else validate your pain really does help and can lead you to develop new ways of coping. In fact, research shows it is as effective as medications. Mark also demonstrated signs of chronic depression, anxiety, and insomnia, on & off throughout his life. We do have a family history of mental illness on our mother’s side which can contribute to these sorts of disease processes. Medications may have also been of help for Mark. I, myself (Mark’s sister Myra), have been diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder and chronic insomnia and take medications for both, with benefit. Unfortunately, Mark was not really open to either of these. Now we wish we had pushed him harder in that direction.

Some of you may know that Mark had insulin-dependent diabetes. He was struggling with the burden of that condition as he grew older. There is some evidence that Mark may have been self-treating his depression with sugar throughout his life. Of course, there are worse things to self-treat with, but it put him in a catch-22. Do I relieve my depression with sugar, or do I remain healthy and keep my blood sugars down? Toward the end he chose to go off his diet and eat whatever he wanted. We are pretty sure this affected his health, his thinking and his ability to cope.

You can make a donation, if you desire, to his favorite charity, Angels for Animals (www.angelsforanimals.org) or purchasing a tree to be planted in his honor through Arbor Day Foundation (www.arborday.org).

Will you also honor those in your life who may be struggling? Encourage them to reach out and take advantage of resources that we know can help.

We look forward to seeing Mark made whole in Heaven but we will miss him very much until that time.

We chose to have just a private family memorial for Mark. He had let us know, through the years, that he wanted his

ashes spread in the meadow atop of Mt. Lemmon. He wanted us to all wear Hawaiian shirts and bring whoopee

cushions. We will do all of the above. God bless you all.

Love you, Mark O. Love you Dad.