Mark Peters was born Mark Edward Samples in 1939, in Seattle, Washington, wherein, at ten years old, in 1950, his mother, Nancy Sweat, and step-father, Jack, relocated to Tucson, Arizona, where Mark’s surname was legally changed, at the behest of his mother, to ‘Peters’, essentially to facilitate having been raised, previously, in Oregon, as a young boy by his much older sister, Lee Nell, and her husband, Carl Peters. Mark, as a child, never had any knowledge of his biological father.

Mark was among the first year graduating class of Flowing Wells High School in Tucson, Ariz., in 1957.

In 1958, Mark enlisted in the US Navy. After boot camp in San Diego and electronics school elsewhere, he served during the Vietnam era in 1959, during the Cold War, in a tactical air squadron aboard the U.S. Aircraft Carrier USS Hornet, CVS-12, an ant-submarine warfare carrier steaming throughout the Western Pacific, visiting numerous Pacific Rim Countries. Mark was stationed in Flight Deck Control as the primary “telephone talker”, responsible for tracking the movements of all aircraft on the flight deck, as well as below deck, as he communicated aircraft movement orders from officers to other parts of the ship.

Upon his honorable discharge from the US Navy as a 3rd Class Petty Officer, at North Island, San Diego, CA in 1962, Mark and his family moved firstly to Oregon, to reside temporarily with his sister and her husband, where he began working as a ‘Buyer’ in the field of Electronics Manufacturing and continued that career path- upon relocating to Southern California in 1965, later residing in Orange County.

Earlier on, in 2006, at the request of the Honorable Jim Matheson, a Member of Congress, a United States Flag was flown atop our nation’s Capital Building, in Washington DC, to honor Mark’s service as a U.S. Naval Veteran. A flag which Mark received and continued to display and cherish.

Soon after settling down in Southern California with the mother of their four children, in 1970, Mark’s continued search to find his real father paid off, as he discovered his biological father was residing in Grass Valley, CA, and their subsequent reunion followed in 1972. It was indeed a wonderful time for them both. However, his father a WW1 decorated Veteran, (a survivor of the Argon Forest Campaign in France in 1917), was soon to succumb to bad health at a Veterans Hospital in Yountville, CA., where he passed on two years later.

Mark’s employment in the electronic industry spanned over 40 years, as his career flourished primarily in Orange County, California, employed in purchasing purviews within several prestigious electronic manufacturing companies, initially as a Sr. Buyer, and soon as a Purchasing Department Manager, where he made several lasting friendships, as his negotiation skills and strong work ethic was well known throughout the So. California materials supplier base – as well as by numerous offshore vendors.

In 1933, Mark and his wonderful significant other, Beverly McCarrell, moved from the City of Orange, California, to Southern Utah, where he remarried in 1997, and in 2014, they purchased property together in the beautiful St. George Seniors Retirement Community of Sun River. Beverly retired in 2023.

Mark has always enjoyed the moniker as a ‘Handyman’, as he excelled in fixing things, and when not looking after their beautiful home, Mark, Beverly, and Benji the dog, traveled about in their motorhome, enjoying the mobile lifestyle retirement brings, pursuing his hobby in photography.

As a member of the American Legion, Post 142, Sun River, Mark is very proud of his service to his country – which speaks to his receiving in 2023, the veterans “Cold War” Medal, in a ceremony here in St. George. Additional accolades have followed including his name and brief military “bio”, engraved in a replica of the marble “Wall” memorial, in Washington, DC, which stands at Hurricane, Utah, as well as in another ceremony, in St. George, Mark was chosen to receive an award for ‘Valor’, as a member of the United States Navy.

Mark is sirvived by his loving wife, Beverly, married to Mark for 29 years, his companion of 36 years, as well by his previous marriage partner, Diana (Herndon), the mother of their four children. A son, Trent, including three daughters, Robin, Holly, and Michelle, as well as 19 grandchildren, 6 greats, and 4 “great-great” grandchildren, all of which, for the most part, reside in central California – except for one ‘BFF’ married granddaughter, Amie, and Mark’s 63-year-old son, whom booth reside with their respective families in Texas.

Mark chooses to be cremated in lieu of a service.