Mark Gravengood
| Mark Gravengood | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Sex | M |
| Spouse | Jackie Archer |
| Father | Phil Gravengood |
| Mother | Rose Gravengood |
Mark Gravengood, is a major character in Rocinante and appears in many other stories in the Spearfish Lake Tales. He is the son of Phil Gravengood and Rose Gravengood,FK2 SL6 and husband of Jackie Archer, in August of 1955 he is 8 and his brother Larry is 15,FK8 but dies in December 1994FtS1.
Mark was born about 1947.
His father worked for the little locally owned phone system in Spearfish Lake and also flew airplanes, so by the time Mark graduated High School, he was already a pilot and knew something about phones.
After graduating, he joined the Army with plans of grabbing phone system experience and training. He would have loved to fly in the Army, but his uncorrected eyesight (i.e. without glasses) was below a pilot's minimum and it was all helicopters in the Army. He is also an avid amateur astronomer and at least twice has ground his own mirror for a home-made telescope.
When asked Mark is always vague about his Army service, but he is a Vietnam Vet (82nd Airborne, 1967 and 68). He has been heard saying his time there was boring, with the exception of Tet in 1968 (according to Gil Evachevski in Absent Friend the medals that he occasionally wears tell a different story). He subsequently spent some time in Germany before leaving the army in the spring of 1970, just before the start of Rocinante.
Wes's first book, Rocinante is the story of Mark and Jackie's courtship & marriage - they had the honeymoon before the marriage ceremony! (both of them)
Mark was one of the group of Vietnam Vets who welcomed Steve Augsberg home after his tour in Vietnam.WTLC15
He was a member of the Board of the Spearfish Lake First Baptist Church which rejected Kirk Wise as pastor when he preached against West Turtle Lake Club, including a number of known false accusations.WTLC27
The couple has lived on Busted Axle Road since 1972. The Gravengoods and their next-door neighbors the McMahons are close friends. The couple helped raise the McMahon's daughter Susan. "Though the Gravengoods had never had children of their own, in many ways Susan had been sort of a part-time substitute child to them."SU4
Mark started out with the local independent telephone company in Spearfish Lake, but after they were bought out he took retirement and started Marlin Computer along with a local ISP for the Spearfish Lake area. Mark enjoys flying, including sailplanes, and dog sledding.
Mark and Jackie took in their Grand-Nieces, Rebecca and Brianna Gravengood when their mother Shannon Gravengood died in May 2007. At the same time Mark had received an offer for the local ISP, Marlin.com,SL1 which he eventually accepted.SL14
Ryan Clark employed Mark as a technical consultant to computerise warehouse inventory tracking at Clark Plywood. Ryan thought it would be a long term project to improve process control in other areas as well.SL18 Mark was still consulting for the plywood plant occasionally in 2019, when he was over seventy.RFW42
As a teenager, Mark had dreamed of attending the Air Force Academy and flying fighters but his need for glasses ruled that out.RFW6 Even fifty years later it was still a regret.RFW42
