Mike wrote this for his brother and shared it at Marks memorial service. With his permission I am putting what he wrote on fovermissed.
First of all I want to thank everyone for being here today. I am pretty sure that everyone here has a special memory of Mark and I know he valued each and everyone of you in his own special way.
Mark was born in Rockledge Florida on January 1st, 1962. He was the 5th baby born on New Years Day that year in Rockledge. Mark was the youngest child of 3 children born to Edward and Sally Kieper. He has an older bother and sister; Mike and Kathy. He lived 15 miles from Cape Kennedy where his dad worked at Lockheed. In 1972 his dad got transferred to California. In 1975 Mark lost his father to cancer.
Mark's mom got remarried a few years later to Russell Grove. Mark and I call him Dad. For over 30 years he has been there for us. Mark loved him.
He met his wife Cindy at a 12 step meeting. They dated for almost two years. And then they got married in 1998. Cindy was Mark's first true love. Cindy told me that she had never met anyone like Mark. He was always loving and giving. Cindy says that she kept waiting for him to change like previous relationships, but Mark never changed. He only got better.
In 2007 Mark and Cindy fostered a baby girl that was only 19 days old. They ended up adopting her. Her name is Nevaeh, which is Heaven spelled backwards. Mark loved being Nevaeh's daddy. " Just remember Nevaeh, that daddy loves you, you are very special to him and have brought much love and joy to his life. Nevaeh, Daddy will forever be watching over you."
Around the same time Mark and Cindy became legal guardians to another little girl; her name is Star. "Star, you have also been daddy's little girl. You needed somewhere to live and be loved, and you found that. Star you will always be loved. Remember Star, daddy will also be forever looking over you."
Mark had a 32 year career in the sheet metal fabrication business supporting the high tech industry. He always had a job somewhere, moving from one company to another as they opened and closed.
As a young kid, Mark was good at sports; he played Baseball, Football,......When he was a little guy, he had a ball collection. He had every size and shape that existed. Later in life, like most of us, our abilities change; So instead of playing the game, Mark became good at watching the game. He became a fan of the San Francisco Giants, the 49ers, and the Sharks. The Sharks were his favorite team. He was up when they won, and down when they lost.
Growing up in our house in Florida was always quite eventful. We were all pretty active and kept our parents very busy. We all loved to be outside and if we could, it would be all day. If we weren't in school, at church, at the beach, or out eating somewhere with our family; we would be outside running around. We had shoes, but we never wore them. In fact, we would go for days with no shoes, unless we were going somewhere that required them. Sometimes I wonder how my mom put up with us, she she did.
Our family did everything together. Every Thursday, as a family, we would go out to dinner, followed by a trip to the grocery store to get the groceries for the week. We were lucky; You should have seen us, running all over the store picking out food and sneaking it into the basket. I would always make sure Mark got a few things; taking him up and down the aisles. And then making a game out of getting whatever he picked out, into the basket. He didn't think Mom and Dad were watching.
Sometimes being outside in Florida was not safe, especially during a storm or hurricane. I remember one time that mom and dad told us to make sure Mark did not go outside during one of these hurricanes. So we told Mark that if he went outside he would blow away. Well what do you think he did? I have a lot of good memories of us kids trying to keep busy during these storms. Mark and I would make tents in our rooms and pretend we were camping. Sometimes we would go for days without water or electricity, but for some reason it was fun. We were with our best friends, our family.
Our family loved to go camping. In fact we went every month. Sometimes these trips were long. Can you imagine us kids sitting in the back seat of the car for many days and weeks on these trips. Most of the time all was well, but the three of us kids were always up to something, if we could get away it. Of course we always claimed to have done nothing. Well, I will admit: that Mark being the younest always got the middle seat. This would put him at a disadvantage. Lucky him, big brother and sister could pick on him from both sides and then claim that he was bugging us.
Mark was always having fun. No matter where we went as a family; and we went to a lot of places, Mark would always make friends. And if there was nobody around, he would always find something to do. One time when we were camping in the Appalachian Mountains in Tennessee, he wanted to see a bear. He wanted us to believe he had seen one so bad that he would draw bear prints in the dirt and have us look at them. One day his dream came through. A bear snuck up behind him, he turned around, and started screaming: "there's a bear and it's real."
We had a lot of fun memories being together. As a family we travelled and visited 37 states, Mexico, and Canada. I wish Mark and I had taken the time to talk about all the fun we had.
As an adult; Mark's passion in life besides his wife (Cindy) and their 2 kids was spending time with our step father (Russ); known by all of us as Dad, hanging out watching their favorite teams play. Whoever was playing: Giants, 49ers, or the Sharks; hanging out with Dad was the thing to do.
Our heavenly Father has a plan for all of us. He knows the plan. This plan is designed to help us prosper and not harm us. It is designed to give us hope and a future.
This is important to know because; We do not know what our destiny is, only our Heavenly Father knows, therefore we need to trust in him at all times and have faith and hope at all times for what his plans are for us.
Mark would want all of us to live life to its fullest, love to the fullest and be happy. Today is a day of celebration of his life, not his death. Please remember that he loved each and every one of you and he will forever be missed by all.
Rest peacefully baby brother you are forever in our hearts......
Mike Kieper
