Mark Richard Lindner

Written by Mark's sister, Deb, on 4 February 2022:

I lost my brother earlier this week. For those who didn’t know Mark well, he was only two years younger than me, and we were very close growing up. Mark ended up being an even crazier teenager than I was and went into the Army after high school. He married young and raised two awesome children, Sara and Jeremy, while serving abroad much of his 20 years in the military. I visited him and his family as often as possible, getting to enjoy (as a civilian) the interesting places he was posted. After retirement from the military, Mark was more than ready to go back to school; he finished his BS in philosophy and MS in library and information science, and then started his second career as a librarian. During that time, Mark met Sara Thompson, also a librarian, whom he married in 2010. For about the last decade, they lived and worked in Bend, OR, where he was able to spend a lot of time outdoors hiking as well as enjoying the local beer culture.  

Mark was very smart and a voracious reader, often about philosophical and other esoteric topics that make my head spin. On the other hand, he also developed a love of poetry. He was passionate about music his entire life, filling his house with stereo equipment and albums and CDs of rock, jazz, classical, indie, and obscure musicians, until music became digitized. He loved photography, especially of nature, ranging from dramatic landscapes to the tiniest of flowers. Mark also knew a lot about beer, initially collecting beer cans from around the world, then creating blogs about it, brewing it, and even judging at beer contests for a while.  

At times, he seemed giddy with his new life. But his lifelong battle with depression and PTSD was never far away. The social isolation associated with the pandemic and increasingly toxic political rancor in recent years weighed heavily on Mark, as it has for many of us. And when recent personal struggles proved too much to handle, he made the choice to end his pain. I am heartbroken that he wasn't able to overcome these difficulties in life. Nonetheless, I am consoled by the fact that he is no longer in pain.