Mark Van Raalte
29th March 1975 - 2nd September 1993

Loved for 18 Years 6 Months and 2 days on this earth..... 
Always and Forever in our Hearts.

We will always love and miss you.
Mum, Dad, Tanya & Karen.

View Marks Guestbook                                     Sign Marks Guestbook

 

Open Letter to Mark
from his Mum

You left my life so suddenly that I never had a chance to tell you one more time:- 
“How much I love you and how proud I am to be your Mum”.
I was blessed with your birth at Easter on Good Friday the 29th March, 1975, and I was plunged into the depths of sadness and despair on Friday the 3rd September, 1993, when two detectives came to the door to inform me of your death.
You were 18 years 6 months and 2 days old.
In that split second, my life was changed forever, I remember screaming no it’s not my baby, you must be wrong.

 cont., 1
But from that moment I spent every second.... minute.... hour.... day and even years trying to comprehend that I would never see you again and how was I ever going to live without you in my life?
I struggled to come to terms with your untimely death and I begged a thousand times for just one more chance to hold you in my arms and tell you how much I love you. The endless “if only’s” almost drove me insane, your death totally consumed my life and I could see no future without you here with me. 

Now Mark all these years into my grief journey I find that those precious 18 yrs 6 months and 2 days of your life are slowly creeping back into my life. 
Cont., 2
It is the memories of those years that bring me the greatest comfort in my darkest hours.

cont., 3
You were a beautiful baby, a delightful fun loving child and a handsome 6ft 2 ½ inch teenager. 

cont., 4
From the age of six our lives revolved around your soccer at which you were so gifted, always telling us that one day you would be a famous soccer player like the great Brazilin player Pele.
Your gift was taken form you during a soccer game at the age of 13 when your knee gave way and you were hospitalised. The cartilage in your knee had to be removed ending 
cont., 5
your soccer career. Depressed at the reality that you would never play soccer again and too much spare time on your hands you became a rebellious but always lovable teenager.
You were lost for quite some time and had no purpose or direction in your life until you met two young Mormon missionaries who gave you a goal in life and taught you to believe in yourself and in others. 
cont., 6
You did Bible study with the missionaries and studied from front to back and back to front (I wish you had had the same enthusiasm for your schoolwork!) You were Baptised and became a State missionary with the church. During this period you showed great courage and determination as some people ridiculed you, calling you a bible basher, preacher or a churchie. But you never let this deter you from achieving your goal. We were so proud of you and your achievement and so happy to see you happy again.

After your death I found an entry in your diary which you had made two weeks before your death. It read: 

Friday August 13th 1993
“School is going well, but I think that I can do better. I think that I am lucky to be how I am now. I love and respect people and things more now than I have done in years. I am glad to be who I am. 
Because I feel so lucky I want to go and help others when I’ve finished school & stuff. At the moment I don’t really know what I want to do, but I know I want to be somebody or something, not just another person in this unfortunate world. I wish I was rich so I could go and help the unfortunate people (mainly kids) because it would make me so happy to just see them smile and laugh".

Mark you never had the chance to fulfil your wish, but I know that you would have done it well and it comforts me to know that you were feeling so good about your life. 
In life you taught me many things and your death has taught me not to take anything for granted. 
Each day with your Dad, Sisters and nephews is a blessing, 
I am so grateful to have had you in my life than to never have had you at all. 
I miss you son with all my heart.

Your ever-loving Mum.

In Memory of our Only Brother Mark. 
Written by Tanya

To my little brother Mark 
(Who never got to hear what I felt in my heart)

I never did tell you how much I loved you and now it’s to late! There are so many things that I wish I had said and because I always expected you to be around, 
I never said them. 

I took life for granted, and in a way I think you did too!

There is no beginning and no end to the very special memories of you. To us though you are not here to see and touch, your spirit will live with us up until the day we too personally join you, in the place you now call home.

cont.,
Mark, you were a very strong guy with awicked sense of humour and imagination that we didn’t alwaysunderstand, no matter how hard we tried. You always lived life tothe fullest, and even though you were only here growing up withus for a short time, you taught us many things and made  uslaugh a million times over. You had the courage of a lion andkept fighting for what you wanted no matter what anyone said. Ifsomething didn’t work the first time you would try and tryagain until you succeeded.

Life seems so cruel totake you away, but life has certain tests which you had passedand are now in heaven standing guard, helping all the unfortunatepeople as you wished.

We have never had tosay Good-Bye to someone who meant so much. You were so young withso many goals to fulfil, which is so hard to come to terms with.Many things could be said for all the wonderful things you havedone, but we know you would be saying:-
“Hey, Hey that’s enough,life’s to short, we are all here for a good time, not a longtime!!

Until we meet again take the best care and remember your little short sisters always.

Love you!

View My Guestbook                                     Sign My Guestbook