Mark A. O'Brien

Mark A. O'Brien, 81, longtime Warden resident and area farmer passed away Monday, July 9, 2012 at Summer Wood Care Center. Memorial Mass will be held at 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, July 18, 2012 at Queen of All Saints Catholic Church in Warden. Please sign the online guestbook at www.kayserschapel.com. Arrangements are in care of Kayser's Chapel & Crematory.

Mark was born on October 27, 1930 in Benkelman, Nebraska, son of the late Peter and Mary (Gleason) O'Brien. He was raised on a farm in Northwest Kansas the youngest of 13 children. Mark's schooling ended at age 14 because of World War II and the shortage of help to work on the farm. He served in the U.S. Marines 1st Marine Division during the Korean War. After his honorable discharge in 1954, he started working the oil and gas wells drilling rigs in New Mexico, working through the Rocky Mountain area to the Canadian Line for 14 years. When Alaska became a state in 1959, he worked 4 more years in the oil fields there. He started fishing king crab in the Bering Sea for 16 years. During this time he got his private pilot license as well as the U.S. Coast Guard Master's License. He owned an interest in two trawlers that fished for Pollack in the Bering Sea.

He was married in 1971 and this marriage brought 5 step-children into his life. Mark purchased his first farm in Warden in 1975 and moved onto the farm in 1981 to start farming. He bought his second farm in 1983. In 2001, Mark married Margaret Hoffman and they have continued to live and farm in Warden.

Mark is survived by his wife Margaret O'Brien, Warden; 1 sister, Agnes Ostdeik; 7 step children; a nephew and partner in business, Paul Glasco; many more nieces and nephews.  Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by 11 siblings, Peter, Bob, Glen, Tom, Clair, Pat, Paul, John, Leo, Dan and Mary. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Columbia Basin Cancer Foundation, PO Box 1337, Moses Lake, WA.