Obituary: Howard

Mark Patrick HowardObituary: HowardMark Patrick Howard, 45, of Bartlett, Tennessee, passed away July 7, 2015 after a short and painful battle with cancer.He was born March 17, 1970 in Nome, Alaska to Michael and Margo (Carpenter) Howard. After several years in Nome, the family moved back to Washington.Mark went to school in Woodinville, graduated from Woodinville High School in 1988, and attended Shoreline Community College. He developed many interests in his formative years. He loved music, excelled in drawing and was a game master, creating a couple of his own. One of his specialties was model and diorama building, for which he won a number of awards.Mark’s love of music led him to a join a local garage rock band as a roadie and for which he designed and tie-dyed their tee shirts with logos. If he could have “favorites” to listen to, that would be Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead. When he was able, he went to as many concerts as he could, soon traveling out of state to see them, becoming a true “deadhead.”As a teenager, Mark always had jobs, from cleaning a neighbor’s steel fabricating shop to delivering products for Woodinville Office Supply Co. Driving that delivery truck was a great job for a 16-year-old. He always had time for soccer, bowling and other activities. He even talked his dad into joining a father-son league, and sure enough Mark usually had the highest score.He spent three years working for his dad, and said that was where he developed his work ethic. After several years of honing his computer/logistics skills in jobs around the area, he began working in a Nike warehouse in Wilsonville, Oregon. After awhile some of his coworkers began referring to him as “Doc Howard” due to his ability to solve problems that occurred in the system.He transferred to Nike’s new warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee in 2008 where he was an analyst on the flow team. According to several members of his team, he was considered a very valuable employee. During his 18 years he received two outstanding employee awards. Mark didn’t brag about such things, but we know he appreciated the respect he received. He made many friends at work and in his varied areas of interest. He will be greatly missed.Mark is survived by his daughters Autumn and Madison Howard of McMinnville, Oregon; his parents, Mike and Margo Howard of Woodinville; sister Melanie (Todd) Williams and nephew and niece Xavier and Zahara Williams of Woodinville; sister Mollie (Jason) Johnson and nephew Drake of Gonzales, Louisiana, and his Grammy, Marcelle (Beckley) Carpenter of Chelan, Washington; and many aunts, uncles and cousins.He is preceded in death by his grandpa Virgil Carpenter and grandpa and grandma George and Marguerite (LittleJohn) Howard.Mark had a life-long fascination with hair … on his head and especially on his chin. In high school he grew bushy sideburns, which caused some to call him “Elvis.” Then came the beard. Hair and beard have been short, long, wavy, mohawk and bald. In the end, he said to shave the head, but don’t touch the beard … and we didn’t.