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Deputy Felber remembered

posted 03/10/01
On a pastoral knoll, in a setting as breathtaking and serene as the classical music Mark Lewis Felber loved, family, friends and colleagues wished "Godspeed" to the San Juan County Deputy. Dozens upon dozens of Lopez Island residents, law enforcement officers and others Friday attended a graveside memorial at Union Cemetery for Felber, 50, who died of a heart attack March 3, 2001.

Vehicles, carrying San Juan County Sheriff's Office staff, Lopez Island firefighters and emergency medical workers, state Park Rangers and police officers from San Francisco, Anacortes and other cities drove in a procession stretching over Lopez's rolling farmland. Felber's beloved light green Studebaker pickup led with his casket on its bed. Nearly all of the county's deputies, dispatchers, detectives and other law enforcement workers stood at attention while a Seattle Police Department honor guard assisted with the ceremony.

Deputy Jon Larson offered a remembrance of his "private" fellow Lopez Island Deputy. Felber started his law enforcement with the San Francisco Police Department, where he worked in the heart of the Mission District. "His wit and humor showed in his ability to compliment everyone, even taking time to compliment a cross-dresser on his coordination of colors and styles," Larson said.

Felber moved to the islands in 1992, bringing "his love of Pucinni and Verdi, his verses from Gilbert and Sullivan,"Larson said. He married Carina and they had two children -- Logan, 6 and Fiora, 3. "First was Logan, whose smile beamed with happiness when standing with his father and riding in the Studebacker," Larson said. With the birth of his daughter Fiora, "Mark's focus turned to making the island safe for children and he became an ever-present force in making traffic safety improvements at the school."

Larson also noted Felber's "love and devotion to this family, his commitment to his profession and his community, will carry on in the hearts and minds of those he knew and worked with."

Felber's family and friends shared memories at the Islander Lopez Resort during a wake and ceilidh (a Celtic gathering where everyone gets a chance to entertain).

Sharon Kivisto and Matt Pranger
can be reached:
phone: 360.378.3748      fax: 360.378.9748
by e-mail: news@sanjuanislander.com

by mail: San Juan Islander
PO Box 1118
Friday Harbor, WA 98250 USA

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