Mark has gone the extra mile for more than one patient. He had a vision impaired patient who could not read the care and use instructions for his device. Mark (who has an incredible speaking voice to go along with his singing voice), recorded the instructions in his recording studio on a CD for the patient. Mark also took good care of the staff at the Cumberland office. When the weather was bad in the winter, Mark was out in the parking lot shoveling snow and laying down salt. He took great pride in the appearance of the office, occasionally wielding a power washer to brighten up the outside.
We asked Mark to write a few words about his time at Dankmeyer:
“I was 22 years old in 1980, when I started working for Dankmeyer, Inc., as an orthotic and prosthetic technician. I decided to pursue my education in prosthetics after about eight years in fabrication. While I was a young father, I attained my Associate in Arts degree from Allegany Community College in Cumberland, and went on to receive my Certificate in Prosthetics from Northeast Metro Technical College in Minnesota. I became an ABC Certified Prosthetist in 1991.
Later I pursued certification as an orthotist and became a BOC Orthotist in 2007. By this time my family had grown and I went from being the father of one child to two children. It was a blessing to watch them grow into adults. Our oldest, along with her husband and our 8-year-old granddaughter, are missionaries in France. Our son, who is our youngest, lives in Virginia and works for a world-wide company writing code for computer programs (although I admit I don’t understand all that he does). Our son Alex has some music singing interest as a hobby and our daughter “Nikki” plays guitar, sings and leads worship in French for their services, as they pastor churches in two small towns in France.
I grew up in a musical family and started to get serious about playing guitar when I was 11 years old. The guitar is easy to play and hard to master. In addition to playing music, I followed in my father’s footsteps as a songwriter. As my career skills in orthotics and prosthetics grew, so did my music abilities.
Over the years, my wife Linda and I have had songwriting contracts with small publishing companies, but the most enjoyment comes from writing and performing our music. We also enjoy recording in our own studio, as well as producing and manufacturing our own CDs. We love to sing at church events and the music is an evangelical tool to share our faith. As the medium for music has changed, we have video recordings available on our YouTube Channel. Our music is one of our most enjoyable hobbies, which we will continue into my retirement.
Starting as a young orthotic and prosthetic technician and later becoming a practitioner, I have seen amazing improvements in the practice and scope of O&P throughout the years. There has always been a hunger for learning and using the newest technologies to improve the lives of those we serve in our community.
Since starting with Dankmeyer Inc. back in January 1980, my 40 plus years seemed to have gone by quickly, as I am now 62 years old. I will miss the people I have grown to love, as patients, their families and my family here at Dankmeyer.
My retirement, as each day of my life has been, will be a new adventure. I am very blessed.”
Because of that pandemic, the whole Dankmeyer team honored Mark in a mostly virtual retirement party Wednesday afternoon. Instead of all gathering in person to wish him well, Mark and Linda were joined by a small in person group hosting a Zoom send off that included remote friends and colleagues from their workplaces and from home. His son Alex was on the call from Virginia, and Nikki was on board from France. Mark was presented with an engraved watch, and a shiny new guitar and case from his co-workers, which he promised to put to use soon. There were a few laughs as we watched a slideshow of Mark through his 40 years at Dankmeyer, and a video of send off messages from friends and colleagues, producing some tears as well. It was a unique way to end a unique career in prosthetics and orthotics.
It is hard to say goodbye and good luck, on both sides. We wish our friend and long time colleague a wonderful, blessed retirement with his wife Linda and their family.
