In October of 1963, Mark's mother was living in Staten Island, New York. She had Toxemia and was nine months pregnant, but her doctor believed that she was only six months along because she had only gained five pounds. She was put into the hospital and two weeks later she went into labor. At 11:10 AM on the 28th of October, Mark Daniel came into this world weighing in at a whopping 4lbs 11 oz and 16 inches long. Mark was the only one of six children with red hair and green eyes. He was given the nickname of Bones but his mother and his big sister, Cindy, called him Marky. What follows are his mothers memories...
"Mark was a very sweet baby with few needs. He was soooo tiny that my brother, Bob, and I took turns every two hours feeding Mark with an eye dropper. Finally, one day I found an old time nipple, the kind that pulled down over the bottle, that would fit into his mouth.
As a child Mark would say that when he grew up he was gonna be either an
actor or a songwriter. He loved football and his favorite team was the Seattle
Seahawks. Cindy and her husband would spent hours during the holidays looking
for gifts for Mark with the Seahawks logo on it. Mark was a really good teenager,
was a survivor of the truck bombing in Beruit in 1983 that killed 263 of his
fellow Marines, and he had to help dig them out of the rubble. When they ran
out of body bags they had to use their military clothes to wrap the body parts
in. When he left the Marines he wouldn’t even bring his clothes home after
they gave them back to him. (Yes, they did gave him those same clothes back.)
While he was digging out bodies he came to a very close friend and kept trying
to shake the boy awake. Of course the poor kid was already dead. I think they
had to restrain Mark after that. I believe that was the beginning of the end
for my son. The bombing left Mark with insomnia, and when he did sleep he
had terrible nightmares, and he could be heard screaming. This went on for
the rest of Marks life. He spoke little about his time in Beruit; he would
jump if someone tapped him from behind; he went from an easy going, mild mannered
kid to a man that showed anger at little things. He didn’t even stay for the
“Parade” when they came home to the United States. He never married but he
does have a daughter named Tiffany. Tiffany is now 11 years old, lives in
PA. with her mother, and she looks just like her daddy. 
Mark would call me "Ma" or "Madre" *smile* I can’t recall him ever teasing me about anything, but I'm sure that he did. When ever Mark came in or left he always kissed his Ma, which would always melt my heart, especially when he did this in his teen years where boys are afraid their peers will make fun of them for doing things like that. He still would do this at the age of 35. I enjoyed just being with Mark. He was always quiet and so respectful. He was the most non-judgmental person I ever knew, and he was so family loving. His family meant everything to him. He never asked for much from anyone. He loved to be around his sister, brothers, nieces and nephews, which is quite a brood. At dinner time, he was always the last one to serve himself, always waiting for everyone else.
On July 31st of 1999, Mark decided to take his journey to Heaven. I believe that Mark is now with his daddy, Eddie, and with my Mom, Nellie, who was like a second mom to Mark. People will remember Mark for what he was..... a little man in stature, but big in heart. He was kind and quiet, non-materialistic, and if Mark got your ear then you knew he liked you. Most people never knew how incredibly smart he was. He didn’t even realize it himself.
