Mark Richard Petell (84) left us peacefully on October 5th , and was ushered into the presence of Jesus, while he was surrounded by his loving family and dearest friends in his beloved home on Sunshine Avenue in Lee, Massachusetts. He had lived in this home for over fifty years, and raised his family within its walls. Terry, his wife of sixty years, passed away just one month before, with Mark at her bedside in her final hours. Their four daughters, Patti Vietri (Joe), Barbara Petell, Holly Petell, and Naomi Rhoads (Rick) tended both of their parents in their final days and hours.

Mark lived nearly all his life in Berkshire Country, having been born in Pittsfield to Donald and Rita Petell on March 15, 1942. He was their first-born child, and beloved big brother to his only sister Christine. He only left to attend college, achieving multiple degrees from Northeastern Bible Institute in New Jersey, and completing the LPN nursing program at BIOLA's School of Missionary Medicine in California. Once those tasks were complete, he returned to his old stomping grounds to marry, buy a home, and raise a family. He worked as a licensed electrician at the Kimberly Clark Paper Mills in Lee until his retirement.

Many people knew Mark as a quiet serious man, hard-working, and a good neighbor. He had great strength of his convictions, and was utterly devoted to his family. When he was a very young man he had given his life to Jesus, and made himself available and prepared for wherever that might lead. Perhaps that might be a church pulpit, or a missionary outpost in some far-flung place. He always said that "many are called but few are chosen", and that he had been chosen to live out his faith in the home, and workplace, and local church. Hope Church in Lenox became extended family for more than 45 years.

When Mark was in middle age, he was called to a short-term mission project at a medical mission in Mexico. His skills as an electrician were wanted, and with a certain level of discomfort he consented to join the team. Mark was a homebody, and Mexico was a very big stretch for him, but he remembered his promise as a young man. His experience there changed him, and he came home with a fire for helping those less fortunate and spreading the message that Jesus brought hope and joy in the meanest places.

Those that knew Mark, knew that he was a man that hated to see anything wasted. He probably got a significant amount of nutrition from cleaning up the plates of the children in his life. His "shopping" often included picking up things off the junk heap or discard pile that were "too good to throw away." He had a creative eye and clever hands, and was able to give new life to many things, and if you needed a screw or washer or widget, he knew right where he had saved one that would be perfect for the job. After returning from the Mexico medical mission, he searched for ways to raise money to send. In his usual fashion, his attention was caught by the piles of scrap copper wire generated at his job at the mill. He set about obtaining permission to collect the scrap wire and strip it for recycling. He facilitated literal tons of copper wire being sold to help fund the facility he had helped wire on that mission trip. Many a person in his orbit could tell tales of being handed a set of tools and being told to sit a spell and strip some wire. A few brave souls with a sparkle in their eye might have told you that Mr. Petell was enlisting strippers to help raise money for missionaries.

Mark was a generally quiet man, busy about his home and his ever expanding garden. He disliked complicated travel and loud social gatherings, yet he often set aside those preferences to attend celebrations with his growing brood of grandchildren and great grandchildren. He loved children and animals, but he only felt justified in spoiling one and not the other. Which is to say that if you were furry you could get away with more misbehavior. He was always up for a board game or a yard game in summer, but you need not expect he would go easy on you if you were a child. He always played to win. He avoided cooking whenever possible, but loved to eat, especially sweet things. His wife Terry was his perfect mate in this, as she loved on people with loads of cooking and baking.

Although Mark seemed to live a somewhat boring life, and he would have said he liked it that way, he had a whimsical, curious soul. Perhaps his mother would have told him it was the Irish in him. He loved music, especially ballads and folk music that told the deep stories. He loved to sit with old folks and listen to their reminiscing about the days gone by. He had a deep fascination for how people lived in different times and places, and he cherished the items left to him as remembrances. Yet to Mark, for his entire life, the greatest story was "the old, old story, of Jesus and His love". As the young ones came to his bedside in his final days, he could still be heard quietly sharing that story with them.

I love to tell the story, for those who know it best

Seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest.

And when in scenes of glory I sing the new, new song,

'Twill be the old, old story that I have loved so long.

Kate Hankey (1866)

Mark's family asks that donations in his memory be made to Mexican Medical Ministries, and can be done online at www.mexicanmedical.com

Mexican Medical Ministries
Tel: 1-619-463-4777
Web: http://www.mexicanmedical.com