Mark Steven Patience, age 58, passed away on July 30, 2023. He was born on December 13, 1964, in San Antonio, TX, the third child of Donald and Donna Patience. He was preceded in death by his parents.
Mark lived his entire life in San Antonio having graduated from John Jay High School in 1983. He had a natural talent for electronics (probably inherited from his father) and later computers. He was always tinkering with something, and had many computers and other devises long before many of us had even heard of them. Whereas most people tend to use a computer as a tool - to create a document, or as a way to keep track of some type of information - to Mark a computer was a hobby to always be working on and making it perform better. He was constantly upgrading his systems and tweaking this and that. As a result of this natural ability, Mark was able to go to work at Kelly AFB between his junior and senior years of high school as part of the HICEP Program. When he returned to his senior year of high school, he took part in the Electronics Program, and, after graduation, he returned to work at Kelly AFB where he remained until July, 1999, when the base was being shut down. While he never went to any formal college, he did receive many certifications to include Microsoft Certified Professional, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and Microsoft Certified Profession + Internet, with a grade average of 920 out of a possible 1000 points. His highest score was on Networking Essentials – 982 out of 1000. He received the Outstanding Engineering Technician Award while at Kelly AFB and was instrumental in instituting many cost-saving features there and other places where he worked. After working at Kelly, he had several other jobs working in network analytics and systems programing until Huntington’s disease made it impossible for him to work any longer.
Mark also had an excellent “ear” for sound and music. He knew a lot about sound projection and how sound travels. One time, he was listening to a radio station. The songs were being played on two different CD players, and he noticed that when some of the songs played, there was a distortion in one of the stereo channels. He called the radio station to report this, and he told them that one channel was “out of phase” and if they switched the output wires on the CD player they were using, it would fix the problem. He later got a call from the station engineer confirming the mistake in the wiring and thanking him for letting them know about it.
Mark is survived by sisters Diana Holloway (Richard), and Cindy Jones (Robert), and brother Dennis Patience (Carrie). He is also survived by two former wives, Karen Hendrickson Patience, and Beth Mosman Patience, two daughters, Hannah Chelf and Alyssa Patience, step-daughter, Samantha Jones (Kyle); three grandchildren, and numerous nephews and nieces.
The family would like to thank Tan, P.K., Michael, and the rest of the staff of Swans Landing Assisted Living who faithfully and lovingly cared for Mark in his last years. We would also like to extend our thanks to David, Rachel, and the team of Embrace Hospice.
A visitation will be held at Colonial Funeral Home, 625 Kitty Hawk Road; Universal City, Texas on Wednesday, August 23, 2023, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. A memorial service will follow at 4:00 p.m. with a reception following. In lieu of flowers, those who wish may make a memorial contribution to the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA.org); 505 Eighth Avenue, Suite 902; New York, NY 10018.
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