Obituary of Mark Perrin

Mark Perrin passed away at home on Saturday, May 2, 2015, surrounded by his family.Mark was born on November 6, 1941 to Mary Ann (Green) and Frank W. Perrin, in Vancouver, Washington and was the eldest of six children.He married Betty Kestenbaum in Cameron, TX in August 1963, and they had three daughters, Jill, Carol and Lynn, all of Portland and 5 special grand children, Tyler, Sam, Paige, Sam & Aidan. He had love and great pride for his wife, children and grand children.Educated in Texas, he graduated from Yoe High School in Cameron, in 1960 and was 7th in his class of 88. He was the Senior Class President, belonged to various clubs and was a tennis and debate champion.He attended college at the University of Texas, at Austin, under the Jesse H. Jones Interscholastic League Scholarship, receiving his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 1965. He was an active attorney for 40 years.His first job after law school was at the United States Department of Justice, as a Prosecutor. He prosecuted cases in Washington, DC; St Louis, MO; Brooklyn, NY; and Covington, KY. He later became an assistant U.S. Attorney in Houston, TX.He was an attorney in private practice in Houston, TX, St Louis, MO and Eugene, OR, the latter from 1978 until 2007.He was President of the Lane County Bar Association and Fellow of Oregon Law Foundation. He was a member of various legal organizations and often spoke at Oregon State Bar seminars and at the University of Oregon Law School. He also, enjoyed mentoring young attorneys.He was a Board Member of the Eugene Red Cross Chapter; of Sacred Heart System Institutional Review Board; and of the Board of Visitors of the University of Oregon School of Law. He was a member of the United Methodist Church since a teenage; and served as Lay Leader at the First Methodist Church of Eugene.His outside interests included hiking and mountain climbing. He stood atop Mt. Rainer, Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood and other mountains. He also loved sailing, travel in Europe/UK/Caribbean/Central America. He had a lifelong passion for learning, studying languages (German, Spanish, French and Italian) at LCC, and he enjoyed reading all types, especially world history in later years.He was passionate about amateur ham radio, and volunteered in Emergency Communications and served as Emergency Coordinator of Lane Amateur Radio Emergency Services.He is survived by his mother, Mary Ann Perrin, his wife of 51 years, Betty Perrin, Jill and Jim Welty, Carol Perrin, Lynn and Brooke Hyde-Perrin, 5 grand children, Tyler, Sam, Paige, Sam and Aidan, 3 brothers, 2 sisters and many nieces and nephews.A celebration of Mark's life will be held on Friday, May 15, 2015 at 2:00 PM at the United Methodist Church, 1376 Olive Street, Eugene, OR.You are invited to sign the online guest book at www.musgroves.comIn lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to the Willamette Valley Cancer Institute, Eugene, OR, or the American Red Cross.