Mark Harris:
CLASS OF 1970
Marion High SchoolClass of 1970
Marion, IN
Indiana University - Theatre & DramaClass of 1977
Bloomington, IN
Indiana University - MusicClass of 1977
Bloomington, IN
Mark's Story
After I graduated Marion High, I went to IU and majored in Theatre with a concentration in Design and Construction. I was drafted after my sophomore year and spent two years doing service as a conscientious objector at Bloomington Hospital. I married Susie Russell (MHS '71) in 1974. When I went back to school I was awarded a graduate level teaching assistantship at IU's School of Music where I ran stagecrews for operas and ballets. I also was in charge of the scenic welding shop. Susie and I divorced after only three years. Eight hours short of having my degree, I was offered a job working at Pace University in Manhattan. Of course I went. I spent 5 years in NYC, eventually changing over to high-end renovation and a few stints as a carpenter for "Saturday Night Live". I married again in 1980 to Oriole. After visiting my brother in Tucson in March of 1981, I decided I had done my time in NYC and moved to Tucson in 1982. I worked for the Arizona Theatre Company (a LORT theatre)for about seven seasons and eventually became their "special projects person". That means I got to build all of the fun stuff! During my 16 years in Tucson I took a few years out and moved to Dallas/Ft. Worth where I became an office manager for a land syndication company. I also designed houses for 2 years for a custom builder in Ft. Worth. I like to say the most beautiful sunrise I ever saw in Texas was the one in the rear view mirror the day I moved back to Tucson. Back in Tucson I got divorced, again, after 10 1/2 years. I started teaching high school stagecrafts and computer graphics. They really wanted me to have a degree so after 26 years I finished my B.A. and got married again, to Barbara, of course. I designed and built a beautiful home for my new wife and myself in the foothills outside of Tucson as she finished her Ph.D. in Psychology. After she finished her degree work, she couldn't find work in Tucson. In 1997 we moved to Cave Creek, AZ, north of Phoenix. I worked as an exhibit designer at a natural history museum while my wife was a CEO of a couple of clinical research companies. In 2001 sh...Expand for more
e decided to go out on her own and started her own clinical research company.I started designing kitchens for Home Depot and Lowes so we would have insurance while she started the business. She was profitable within three months. We eventually bought our own office space and had a satellite office in Tucson. Since I was working 60 hours a week and she was complaining that she never saw me anymore, I quit designing kitchens and started working for her. We had a pretty good run for the next three years. We bought office space in Tucson as well as a triplex where our daughter (my step-daughter who I adopted) lived while she went to the U of A. We also started an office in Boulder, Colorado and positioned ourselves to do business in China. My wife's oldest daughter lived north of Denver so when we found out she was pregnant we bought 15 acres of forest in the mountains outside of Golden, Colorado. I designed and built a beautiful home for us that have wonderful city and mountain views. After working 3 1/2 years at my wife's office I decided I wasn't having fun anymore and left to find work that used more of my creative skills. I currently work for a company that takes old film and videotape, digitizes it, breaks it into "scenes" and posts it on the customer's private website where the customer can either share it or build a DVD out of the footage. Great, innovative company. The first week of September my wife had a nevous breakdown, filed two restraining orders against me and filed for divorce. ...not much to say about that except that if you take the first letter of my previous wive's names and put them all together in order, it would spell out S.O.B. Hmmm... I'm living with my dog in a house we own in Cave Creek, Arizona. I've got a really good lawyer and since Arizona is a no fault state, I get 50% of everything. I'm finding myself reconnecting with old friends and dating new women. I am a soloist in a community choir and really enjoy doing that. And I have been encouraged to get involved with the community theatre again. Well, that's it in a nutshell. What have you been up to?
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Register for Free to view all yearbooks!
Reunions
Photos
