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<p><em>Mark Christopher Savarese</em> was born to Francis A. and Frances M. Savarese on July 16, 1956 in Lynbrook, NY. His family eventually moved to Phoenix, AZ, where Mark attended West Phoenix High School and played varsity football and baseball (All-State). He graduated at the top of his class, giving his high school’s graduation speech in May 1974. Mark received an appointment for the Class of 1978 from Senator Paul Fannin and arrived for Beast Barracks on July 8, 1974.</p>
<p>Mark and I were roommates during third detail of plebe year and all yearling year. We lived in room 4652 on the fifth floor of the 46th Division in Company G-4. Mark was the kind of roommate everyone wants to have: considerate, helpful, and kind—a gentler soul one could not find. He was funny, earnest, generous and naïve. Mark had grown up in a staunch Italian Catholic family and had taught Sunday School to youngsters while he was in high school, a practice he continued at USMA.</p>
<p>Mark was one of the few cadets I ever knew that used an electric razor. Apparently, he’d had a bad experience with a safety razor in high school. His father bought him an electric razor made, seriously, by Black & Decker. When he fired it up before morning formation, I was awake, no matter how much I wanted to sleep. It sounded like a chainsaw cutting oak. The following year, on the first morning after we’d moved back into the same room, Mark went to shave, and I prepared myself for the razor’s racket. Surprisingly, the sound was barely audible. Over the summer, Mark’s family had bought him a Norelco, which by comparison, was almost silent.</p>
<p>During the great G-4 food poisoning of plebe year, we had the two-mile run test that same day. After the test, we came back to the room, and even though I was feeling bad, I went to dinner. As it was the Class of 1976’s Ring Weekend, the main course was steak. I got the best steak I’d had to that point in my cadet career but couldn’t even look at it. I gave it to Mark, returned to our room and went to bed. Eventually, I got sick in the trash can and was not finished when the Cadet in Charge of Quarters (CCQ) came into the room and told me to report immediately to the hospital. The CCQ stood there impatiently, as I noted that I needed to clean the trash can. The CCQ wasn’t going to have any of it. I left Mark a note, apologizing for the trash can, and walked to the hospital. Upon my return, I found a clean trash can. Mark had taken care of it. While we both got exempted from that Saturday’s inspection because I was sick, I’m confident that neither the steak nor the inspection exemption was nearly adequate recompense for the dirty job that Mark did without complaint.</p>
<p>Mark had many relatives living in the New York-New Jersey area, and they would frequently visit him on Saturdays. They’d bring big, opulent Italian food dinners on large industrial-kitchen sized trays, find a place to have a picnic and visit. The first time I was invited to join them, I ate the best angel hair spaghetti with meat sauce and meatballs ever. </p>
<p>Mark branched Infantry, became a paratrooper, and was stationed in Alaska; at Fort Lewis, WA; and at Fort Bragg, NC. He was an ROTC professor of military science at Kent State University. He was also in psychological operations during his service. </p>
<p>After leaving the Army, Mark joined his family’s trucking business, CTL Truck Sales and Salvage, Inc., in Phoenix, AZ, with his brothers and father, for which he was the vice president for administration. At church, he met and married the love of his life, Mabelem. Mark would often visit Mabelem’s family in Mexico (he got along very well with his in-laws) and enjoyed the Mexican beaches and the food. Mark knew Spanish from West Point and learned to be fluent thanks to Mabelem. They had three children: Christopher, Stewart, and Samantha. </p>
<p>Sports were an important part of Mark’s life. His main hobby was playing golf. Mark was also a huge Arizona Cardinals football fan. Every Sunday, the family would go to church and then watch the Cardinals’ football game. Mark would listen to the game on the radio simultaneously while watching the game on TV because the radio coverage was ahead of the TV. Mark even chose the color red for his van in honor of his hometown team. </p>
<p>Aside from sports, Mark loved to travel. By the end of his life, he had visited 48 of the 50 states and his family often traveled to Mexico in the summer to visit relatives. Other family trips included visiting Las Vegas, San Diego, New York, and Europe.</p>
<p>Sadly, Mark had to fight dementia in the last years of his life. His family dedicated themselves to his care. His children, despite these challenges, were able to graduate from college during his final years.</p>
<p>We all miss Mark and will forever cherish our loving memories of a truly valuable friend, brother, husband, and father.</p>
<p><em>— Grant Short and the Savarese family</em></p>
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