Charlie: “Mark, could you please tell us a bit about yourself, and your career in fisheries? We’d like to get to know you a little better.”
Mark: “I started my career at Seattle University. I was there two years until the fishery bug really took hold, and I transferred over to the University of Washington where I got a bachelor’s degree in fishery in 1976. I worked in the field a bit, and then came back to UW to earn a Master’s degree in 1981.
I moved to Alaska to start my family. After working there for a few years, I returned to Washington, with our two daughters as young girls. I worked for an Indian Tribe and then a power company. We have a lot of hydro-power, with dams on rivers, so power companies need fisheries biologists working for them. I can remember Father Earl coming for the First Communion Service for both of my daughters when he was pretty close to, if not, fully retired. I remember that Fr. Earl liked to take the train, or sometimes with one of his brothers he would drive back and forth from Southern California to the Northwest. We saw him regularly that way.
When it was time for our daughters to go to high school he counseled our family to attend a Catholic school if at all possible. Actually, he made contributions out of his own pocket to help us afford to send our daughters to a Catholic high school in Tacoma. He did that for other nieces and nephews as well. It always amazed us that the man could put his hands on some money – not necessarily significant – but it was a real case of putting his money where his mouth was.
Nick: “Can you talk about the relationship your Uncle Earl had with his father, for example, was Earl Senior more of an authoritarian or easy going?”
Mark: That was a really interesting one.’ (Mark then asked his father about it) ‘My dad had to think about that. Of course, he probably was reflecting on his own relationship with his father. Grandpa Earl, Senior was out to sea an awful lot. Maybe six to nine months out of the year, during the years that those boys were growing up, which was especially significant to the older boys. Dad said that Uncle Earl had a lot of respect for his father but there was no buddy-buddy relationship there. And really his mother, my Grandmother Clara, raised the five boys at home. She relied on Earl a lot, because he was the oldest son and her husband was out to sea a lot.
I do know that it was a very loving relationship. He had a high degree of respect for his parents. It’s a huge part of the reason he returned to the Northwest. As years went by, he would go up to Washington yearly, celebrating with family during the holidays. On many occasions, Fr. Earl would say Mass right in the dining room - in my Grandparents’ home. Those were always special times for me and others in the family - to be able to participate in a very intimate Mass like that.
I can remember that every morning he would go out and read his brevity, daily prayers from his Morning Prayer book. He was very consistent about that. Every morning was his time of prayer, his time of meditation.”
It was a very tight knit family. Five brothers that were very close to each other. They all looked up to and respected Grandpa Earl. And to have the oldest boy in the family enter the priesthood and become first a Jesuit and then a Diocesan Priest was really a blessing for everybody in the family.”
Charlie: “I wanted to ask you Mark about his attraction to literature and poetry, and frankly the romance of life while he was still a very pastoral person. We could talk all night when he would take students aside and helped them individually. So he got into this teaching thing and just reveled in it. And the other thing is his love of literature and poetry.
I remember one summer - I don’t know if the others guys remember this but - we asked him what he was going to do that one summer - and he said he was going to read Carl Sandburg’s 7 volume ‘Life of Lincoln’. We all kind of groaned.
He fell into his love of liberal arts, although he also taught geometry and Latin. His big impact with us was teaching English. Can you give us any insights on that?”
Mark: “Well, I do know that he was a life-long learner. I think he was a natural as a Jesuit. As you know the Jesuit order is a teaching order.
Charlie: “Yes, I was taught by the Jesuits for most of my life… I’m ok now. Mark, this is a delicate question among us because I wondered about it. I don’t know if it’s delicate or just a simple answer. He moved from the Jesuits to the diocese of San Diego. Do you know why he left the Jesuits?”
Mark: “I don’t know the specific details, but it would surprise none of us to know that it had to do with principle. It had to do with a stand that he took that he wouldn’t back down from. And whether that was something authoritative, that was being lorded over him, or whether he got into a spat with a Jesuit elder.”
Charlie: “We don’t need to know any more. You just described it perfectly. There are a few people in our lives who were built on integrity and principle. He would be one of them.”
Mark: “I was a college student in Seattle in the early 70’s. And, of course, it was during the hippie era, and we were growing our hair long. We started experimenting with mustaches and beards and things like that. Eventually, we showed up at Grandma Clara’s house for dinner. And of course she asked, ‘What gives?! Why are you growing a mustache? What’s with that beard? It looks like hell. Get rid of it!’
Grandma Clara was so strongly opposed to facial hair that I asked my dad and uncles "What gives with her on this?". It started a lively conversation at Christmas dinner. What it came down to was, none of the five brothers had facial hair growing up, because she was so opposed to it. Mind you, Uncle Earl went to sea that same year - and he grew a full beard