This memorial website was created in memory of our loved one, Mark Norman, 61 years old , born on April 10, 1959 and passed away on November 13, 2020. Our family would love if you shared any stories, pictures, and videos you may have of him on this website, to celebrate and honor him, and most of all, laugh and smile in his memory.
Mark Alan Norman, known to some as “Cowboy”, others called him “Markie”, to his grandson “Papa”, and to his girls and those closest to him “Mookie.”
Mark was born to Milda May Best and Matthew Norman April 10, 1959 in Indio, Ca. He was a surprise menopause baby coming 20 years after his older brother Richard, 13 years after his brother Ronnie, and 10 years after his sister Nancy. He spent his childhood running around Indio. He was a child of the 60’s, had a paper route, mowed lawns, and eventually worked at the local gas station. He loved football and played on his school’s team. At 15, he was stabbed at a football game and later on in life enjoyed seeing people’s reactions when they’d ask what the scar was from on his stomach.
Mark’s dad passed away when he was 16 from a heart attack and Mark was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis that same year. After his father’s passing, his Mom and him moved to Rialto, CA to be closer to his siblings who lived in that area. He took on the nickname “cowboy” from his schoolmates at Eisenhower High School after he moved there as he was a kid from “the country” and often wore a cowboy hat and boots.
The local teen hangout was the Rialto movie theater parking lot. One night Mark was cruising with his friend Steve who knew Denise through his younger sister and introduced the two. It was love at first sight for Mark who told his friend Steve, that night, that she was the girl he was going to marry. It took him a couple months but he won her over with his charm and they started dating a couple months later. They were engaged on Christmas a year after that and married a year later in 1979 as soon as Denise was legal.
Their early years of marriage were shared working together at Metropolitan Automotive. They bought a house across the street from his sister, Nancy, and her husband Don, who was like a brother to him. Mark loved working on cars and Denise would often help him. They rebuilt his Grand Prix engine together and swapped the clutch...a few times...on their Baja bug when Denise rode it too much. They’d go to Lytle Creek and shoot cans and Mark would shoot skeet. They also enjoyed camping at Hurkey Creek. They’d go to NHRA drag races every winter. He loved rodeos and would often go with his brothers, Richard and Ronnie.
Mark and Denise waited almost eight years before they had kids. Shannen was born in December of 1986 and changed their world. He loved being a Dad.
He had his first UC related surgery in 1987 and had numerous surgeries over the next couple of years after that.
In 1989, he started working for Exide Batteries where he first met a lot of the guys that would become his friends and later come over to East Penn Manufacturing with him.
His youngest daughter, Stephanie was born in August of 1990. He always wanted to have two girls and this made his family complete. Before Denise went back to work from maternity leave they took a road trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa in New Orleans. Mark got to tour the Superdome while they were there and from that day on he became a lifelong Saints fan, even when it was an embarrassment to be so.
Mark and Denise both worked in West Covina and commuted with the girls from Colton. A lot of times Mark would take the girls while Denise worked late and do dinner and bedtime routines with them for many years, an ever present Dad. Some of his dinner specialties were top ramen with hamburger, Oriental hamburger helper, spaghetti and cube steaks.
Weekends were filled with church, Sunday breakfast out, and taking the girls to Costco every Saturday. Every Summer Mark, Denise and the girls would camp at Faria Beach in Ventura. They took a road trip in 1996 to the Cheyenne 100th Granddaddy Rodeo in Wyoming where him and the girls drove and saw Garden of the Gods in Colorado, Silverton and Durango, Mt, Rushmore, and he taught Stephanie to swim in Laughlin, NV.
In 2001, after a few years of not feeling well and being in pain Mark was officially diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis.
He worked for Exide and then East Penn Manufacturing for many years. He opened and became the branch manager in the Ontario facility where he worked until he had to go out on disability in 2012. He loved his job and especially the crew he worked with who were dear friends to him.
In 2016, Mark and Denise relocated to Redondo Beach for Denise’s job. Mark was always so thankful to have gotten to live near the beach and closer to his girls. Him and Denise would often get something to eat, park and eat overlooking the ocean on the esplanade and occasionally go on a ride in his scooter up and down the walking path at the beach.
Mark’s RA continued to progress but he had an incredible group of medical professionals who got to know his long and complicated medical charts. He loved his medical team which included doctors, nurses, and physical therapists and he often referred to them as his “A team.” Mark suffered many years in pain, the toll that his RA took on his body was very hard on him physically. Denise was right by Mark’s side caring for him through all of his pain and physical decline. The amount of love and support that they provided each other through all of the difficult times is how they endured. Mark somehow always remained positive and had the best outlook on life even after he lost his mobility and became chair bound. He longed to walk again and tried his best working with PT to achieve this. Unfortunately due to his progression of RA he was unable to achieve this but he continued to enjoy life.
In 2018, Mark became a grandpa to his little “boogar” Hudson, Stephanie’s son, who was a bright light and joy to him from the get go. They shared an instant bond and Hudson was enamored with his “Papa”. Mark often wished that he could do more with Hudson but Hudson loved his Papa just the way he was. Papa would read books with Hudson, go for scooter rides when he was able to and watch Mickey Mouse together. When Stephanie would Facetime with Denise, Hudson would immediately ask for Papa and ignore her.
2020 was an extremely hard year for Mark with his health deteriorating and one in which he had many hospitalizations but also a year that he got to spend a lot of time with his girls. Denise was working from home and Stephanie, Hudson and Shannen were able to visit often with the world shut down because of the pandemic. Mark passed peacefully and pain free on November 13, 2020 at Torrance Memorial Hospital with his hands held by Denise, Shannen and Stephanie.
Mark’s greatest joy was his family. He was everyone’s biggest cheerleader and often would take hours to chicken peck text long ALL CAPS texts just sharing his love and words of support. He wasn’t one afraid to share his feelings and was never short on sharing words of affirmation. He lived with chronic pain and yet always had such a positive outlook on life often encouraging others to take things one day at a time and to choose to go through life with a smile on their face versus a frown. He treasured quality time over anything; except maybe food :) He truly cared about anyone that he came into contact with, even on his worst pain filled days. He was constantly putting Denise and his girls before himself and would often try and hide the amount of pain that he felt so that his girls wouldn’t worry about him. He was a man of great faith in God and is rejoicing in Heaven now with his new body.
As best said by one of his friends from work, “Mark loved many people and many people loved Mark.”
