VanDusen, Mark 11/21/1953 - 7/1/2018 Age 64, of Jackson, passed away suddenly on July 1, 2018 from injuries sustained from a motorcycle accident. He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Gail; daughters, Colleen (Justin) Foster and Becky (Chris) Shiffman; grandchildren, Dane, Kayleigh, Valan, and Evan; step-grandson, Caleb; parents, Don and Jackie VanDusen; brother, Jeff (Chris) VanDusen; nephew, Ryan and his daughter, Irie; niece, Kayla, and her daughter, Jenacie; brother-in-law, Ron (Jan) Waldron; special Friends, Bill and Robin Fall, Greg and Fallon Walker, Mike Adkins and Jack Hitt; and numerous other relatives. Mark loved the outdoors, but most of all he loved his grandchildren and daughters. He could always make you laugh. A private memorial service will be held at a later date.
Published in Jackson Citizen Patriot on July 8, 2018
***********************************************************************************************************
Family, friends remember man killed in motorcycle-deer crash
Updated Jul 6; Posted Jul 5
By Danielle Salisbury [email protected]
JACKSON,MI - Mark VanDusen was happiest among nature, family and friends said. He gardened, growing various vegetables and flowers.
There is a recent picture of him holding a found baby opossum and he would raise tiny squirrels fallen from trees.
He walked in the woods, collected mushrooms and was into recycling before people were into recycling, spending hours taking apart items and keeping what could be reused.
"Mark wanted to save the planet," his friend Robyn Fall said this week.
Mark VanDusen, 64, would take rides on his 1981 Suzuki motorcycle. He died Sunday, July 1, when police believe the bike struck a deer on N. Dettman Road in Blackman Township.
Fall and her husband Bill were sitting with VanDusen's wife of nearly 43 years, Gail, in the house they purchased 30-some years ago and Mark VanDusen gutted and renovated.
He was also a father, to his daughters and the neighborhood; a grandfather; and skilled handyman, capable of any mechanical or constructive labor.
"Mark was a jack of all trades. He could do anything, and he did," Gail VanDusen said. "And now, I got to do it."
Sunday, Mark VanDusen, 64, died in what Robyn Fall called a "freak accident" on N. Dettman Road in Blackman Township.
He was riding his 1981 Suzuki motorcycle and police believe he hit a deer north of I-94. A passerby who stopped to move the animal found him and the motorcycle in a grassy ditch.
Mark Vandusen was riding a 1981 Suzuki and was wearing a helmet, Jester said, when police believe he encountered the deer.
Gail VanDusen said he had been out for a ride, as he sometimes did, without a particular destination.
She had been in their pool and tried to call, four or five times. She left a message without response, and she knew he was gone. It wasn't just a sense. "I knew."
Soon, two police officers were knocking on the door.
Gail VanDusen asked one of them for a hug.
On Tuesday afternoon, she shared stories with laughter and frankness, and without tears. "I'll cry later," she said.
Their relationship, like most, was imperfect. "I hated him a lot, but I loved him more."
The two had gone to the same schools since kindergarten. Their families lived within about three blocks, hers on Hallett Street and his on Bush Street in the northwest part of Jackson.
They shared a government class at Jackson High School and Gail VanDusen disliked him and his behavior.
Mark VanDusen, 64, was a father to two daughters, a grandfather and "jack-of-all trades." He died Sunday, July 1, in a motorcycle-deer crash in Blackman Township.
She officially met him at their 1971 baccalaureate ceremony, and on graduation day, she asked him for a kiss. "He dipped me and planted one on me," she said.
"I was like, oh..., I want this for the rest of my life."
Years later, they got together for good.
He worked various jobs, for a dairy company early in their marriage and in carpentry/maintenance for Vermeulen Furniture in Jackson, and since January 2001, for John Campau, president and CEO of Comtronics, the Jackson communications and security company.
They bought their house, then in dilapidated condition, in the 1980s for $3,500. It is now restored, with refurbished wood trimmings and cherry cabinets.
The couple had two daughters, Colleen VanDusen and Becky Schiffman, who brought them four grandchildren.
He was a great father and grandfather, his wife said. "His love for them, and the child in him," she said when asked what made him so.
While he worked in the yard, he would call over his grandchildren, who live across the street, to play.
He enjoyed their activities as much as they did, Bill Fall said.
Gail VanDusen long ran a daycare at their home off High Street in Jackson and Mark VanDusen was the "neighborhood daddy."
He would fix area children's bicycles. "He did everything and he did things for everybody, everyone," his wife said.
Robyn Fall and her son recalled Mark VanDusen giving a homeless man a hoodie.
Fall's husband Bill is a truck driver and when he was away, he would send his friend to check on or aid Robyn, sitting Tuesday in a wheelchair. "You could always call Mark."
The couple played cards, euchre or hearts, with Mark and Gail VanDusen, their friends for several decades. The men usually won. Mark VanDusen so infrequently lost that there is a signed and framed score sheet forever documenting a timme he did at Robyn and Bill Fall's home.
They told tales on Tuesday of teasing Gail VanDusen, of the couple's travels, of making themselves comfortable, playing cards and eating pizza a rehabilitation facility where Robyn Fall was temporarily staying.
Mark VanDusen was a shy, bashful person, a strong introvert, his wife said, but also quick-witted. "He was quiet to a certain degree... he had a joking about him," Bill Fall said.
Gail and Mark VanDusen did not really fight. "I did," Gail VanDusen said.
"He would just sit there and take it or walk away and say: 'Let me know when you are done.'"
Always busy, he would exhaust her just watching him, Gail VanDusen said.
Mark VanDusen, the same size all his adult life, was active, enjoying golf and tennis and playing softball, starring even when he was older than the other athletes. He would have liked to known his age, in an initial news report, was said to be 34, family members said.
In the summer, Gail and Mark VanDusen would travel northwest, to the Ludington area, where they stayed in an old, sidelined bus.
"We were supposed to go up next week," Gail VanDusen said.
The two had been fighting, about the mess in their home, but they made up, as they always did, in the days before the crash.
"We were good Saturday," she said.
"And then he went on his motorcycle ride."
Published in Jackson Citizen Patriot on July 8, 2018
***********************************************************************************************************
Family, friends remember man killed in motorcycle-deer crash
Updated Jul 6; Posted Jul 5
By Danielle Salisbury [email protected]
JACKSON,MI - Mark VanDusen was happiest among nature, family and friends said. He gardened, growing various vegetables and flowers.
There is a recent picture of him holding a found baby opossum and he would raise tiny squirrels fallen from trees.
He walked in the woods, collected mushrooms and was into recycling before people were into recycling, spending hours taking apart items and keeping what could be reused.
"Mark wanted to save the planet," his friend Robyn Fall said this week.
Mark VanDusen, 64, would take rides on his 1981 Suzuki motorcycle. He died Sunday, July 1, when police believe the bike struck a deer on N. Dettman Road in Blackman Township.
Fall and her husband Bill were sitting with VanDusen's wife of nearly 43 years, Gail, in the house they purchased 30-some years ago and Mark VanDusen gutted and renovated.
He was also a father, to his daughters and the neighborhood; a grandfather; and skilled handyman, capable of any mechanical or constructive labor.
"Mark was a jack of all trades. He could do anything, and he did," Gail VanDusen said. "And now, I got to do it."
Sunday, Mark VanDusen, 64, died in what Robyn Fall called a "freak accident" on N. Dettman Road in Blackman Township.
He was riding his 1981 Suzuki motorcycle and police believe he hit a deer north of I-94. A passerby who stopped to move the animal found him and the motorcycle in a grassy ditch.
Mark Vandusen was riding a 1981 Suzuki and was wearing a helmet, Jester said, when police believe he encountered the deer.
Gail VanDusen said he had been out for a ride, as he sometimes did, without a particular destination.
She had been in their pool and tried to call, four or five times. She left a message without response, and she knew he was gone. It wasn't just a sense. "I knew."
Soon, two police officers were knocking on the door.
Gail VanDusen asked one of them for a hug.
On Tuesday afternoon, she shared stories with laughter and frankness, and without tears. "I'll cry later," she said.
Their relationship, like most, was imperfect. "I hated him a lot, but I loved him more."
The two had gone to the same schools since kindergarten. Their families lived within about three blocks, hers on Hallett Street and his on Bush Street in the northwest part of Jackson.
They shared a government class at Jackson High School and Gail VanDusen disliked him and his behavior.
Mark VanDusen, 64, was a father to two daughters, a grandfather and "jack-of-all trades." He died Sunday, July 1, in a motorcycle-deer crash in Blackman Township.
She officially met him at their 1971 baccalaureate ceremony, and on graduation day, she asked him for a kiss. "He dipped me and planted one on me," she said.
"I was like, oh..., I want this for the rest of my life."
Years later, they got together for good.
He worked various jobs, for a dairy company early in their marriage and in carpentry/maintenance for Vermeulen Furniture in Jackson, and since January 2001, for John Campau, president and CEO of Comtronics, the Jackson communications and security company.
They bought their house, then in dilapidated condition, in the 1980s for $3,500. It is now restored, with refurbished wood trimmings and cherry cabinets.
The couple had two daughters, Colleen VanDusen and Becky Schiffman, who brought them four grandchildren.
He was a great father and grandfather, his wife said. "His love for them, and the child in him," she said when asked what made him so.
While he worked in the yard, he would call over his grandchildren, who live across the street, to play.
He enjoyed their activities as much as they did, Bill Fall said.
Gail VanDusen long ran a daycare at their home off High Street in Jackson and Mark VanDusen was the "neighborhood daddy."
He would fix area children's bicycles. "He did everything and he did things for everybody, everyone," his wife said.
Robyn Fall and her son recalled Mark VanDusen giving a homeless man a hoodie.
Fall's husband Bill is a truck driver and when he was away, he would send his friend to check on or aid Robyn, sitting Tuesday in a wheelchair. "You could always call Mark."
The couple played cards, euchre or hearts, with Mark and Gail VanDusen, their friends for several decades. The men usually won. Mark VanDusen so infrequently lost that there is a signed and framed score sheet forever documenting a timme he did at Robyn and Bill Fall's home.
They told tales on Tuesday of teasing Gail VanDusen, of the couple's travels, of making themselves comfortable, playing cards and eating pizza a rehabilitation facility where Robyn Fall was temporarily staying.
Mark VanDusen was a shy, bashful person, a strong introvert, his wife said, but also quick-witted. "He was quiet to a certain degree... he had a joking about him," Bill Fall said.
Gail and Mark VanDusen did not really fight. "I did," Gail VanDusen said.
"He would just sit there and take it or walk away and say: 'Let me know when you are done.'"
Always busy, he would exhaust her just watching him, Gail VanDusen said.
Mark VanDusen, the same size all his adult life, was active, enjoying golf and tennis and playing softball, starring even when he was older than the other athletes. He would have liked to known his age, in an initial news report, was said to be 34, family members said.
In the summer, Gail and Mark VanDusen would travel northwest, to the Ludington area, where they stayed in an old, sidelined bus.
"We were supposed to go up next week," Gail VanDusen said.
The two had been fighting, about the mess in their home, but they made up, as they always did, in the days before the crash.
"We were good Saturday," she said.
"And then he went on his motorcycle ride."
VanDusen, Mark 11/21/1953 - 7/1/2018 Age 64, of Jackson, passed away suddenly on July 1, 2018 from injuries sustained from a motorcycle accident. He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Gail; daughters, Colleen (Justin) Foster and Becky (Chris) Shiffman; grandchildren, Dane, Kayleigh, Valan, and Evan; step-grandson, Caleb; parents, Don and Jackie VanDusen; brother, Jeff (Chris) VanDusen; nephew, Ryan and his daughter, Irie; niece, Kayla, and her daughter, Jenacie; brother-in-law, Ron (Jan) Waldron; special Friends, Bill and Robin Fall, Greg and Fallon Walker, Mike Adkins and Jack Hitt; and numerous other relatives. Mark loved the outdoors, but most of all he loved his grandchildren and daughters. He could always make you laugh. A private memorial service will be held at a later date.
Published in Jackson Citizen Patriot on July 8, 2018
***********************************************************************************************************
Family, friends remember man killed in motorcycle-deer crash
Updated Jul 6; Posted Jul 5
By Danielle Salisbury [email protected]
JACKSON,MI - Mark VanDusen was happiest among nature, family and friends said. He gardened, growing various vegetables and flowers.
There is a recent picture of him holding a found baby opossum and he would raise tiny squirrels fallen from trees.
He walked in the woods, collected mushrooms and was into recycling before people were into recycling, spending hours taking apart items and keeping what could be reused.
"Mark wanted to save the planet," his friend Robyn Fall said this week.
Mark VanDusen, 64, would take rides on his 1981 Suzuki motorcycle. He died Sunday, July 1, when police believe the bike struck a deer on N. Dettman Road in Blackman Township.
Fall and her husband Bill were sitting with VanDusen's wife of nearly 43 years, Gail, in the house they purchased 30-some years ago and Mark VanDusen gutted and renovated.
He was also a father, to his daughters and the neighborhood; a grandfather; and skilled handyman, capable of any mechanical or constructive labor.
"Mark was a jack of all trades. He could do anything, and he did," Gail VanDusen said. "And now, I got to do it."
Sunday, Mark VanDusen, 64, died in what Robyn Fall called a "freak accident" on N. Dettman Road in Blackman Township.
He was riding his 1981 Suzuki motorcycle and police believe he hit a deer north of I-94. A passerby who stopped to move the animal found him and the motorcycle in a grassy ditch.
Mark Vandusen was riding a 1981 Suzuki and was wearing a helmet, Jester said, when police believe he encountered the deer.
Gail VanDusen said he had been out for a ride, as he sometimes did, without a particular destination.
She had been in their pool and tried to call, four or five times. She left a message without response, and she knew he was gone. It wasn't just a sense. "I knew."
Soon, two police officers were knocking on the door.
Gail VanDusen asked one of them for a hug.
On Tuesday afternoon, she shared stories with laughter and frankness, and without tears. "I'll cry later," she said.
Their relationship, like most, was imperfect. "I hated him a lot, but I loved him more."
The two had gone to the same schools since kindergarten. Their families lived within about three blocks, hers on Hallett Street and his on Bush Street in the northwest part of Jackson.
They shared a government class at Jackson High School and Gail VanDusen disliked him and his behavior.
Mark VanDusen, 64, was a father to two daughters, a grandfather and "jack-of-all trades." He died Sunday, July 1, in a motorcycle-deer crash in Blackman Township.
She officially met him at their 1971 baccalaureate ceremony, and on graduation day, she asked him for a kiss. "He dipped me and planted one on me," she said.
"I was like, oh..., I want this for the rest of my life."
Years later, they got together for good.
He worked various jobs, for a dairy company early in their marriage and in carpentry/maintenance for Vermeulen Furniture in Jackson, and since January 2001, for John Campau, president and CEO of Comtronics, the Jackson communications and security company.
They bought their house, then in dilapidated condition, in the 1980s for $3,500. It is now restored, with refurbished wood trimmings and cherry cabinets.
The couple had two daughters, Colleen VanDusen and Becky Schiffman, who brought them four grandchildren.
He was a great father and grandfather, his wife said. "His love for them, and the child in him," she said when asked what made him so.
While he worked in the yard, he would call over his grandchildren, who live across the street, to play.
He enjoyed their activities as much as they did, Bill Fall said.
Gail VanDusen long ran a daycare at their home off High Street in Jackson and Mark VanDusen was the "neighborhood daddy."
He would fix area children's bicycles. "He did everything and he did things for everybody, everyone," his wife said.
Robyn Fall and her son recalled Mark VanDusen giving a homeless man a hoodie.
Fall's husband Bill is a truck driver and when he was away, he would send his friend to check on or aid Robyn, sitting Tuesday in a wheelchair. "You could always call Mark."
The couple played cards, euchre or hearts, with Mark and Gail VanDusen, their friends for several decades. The men usually won. Mark VanDusen so infrequently lost that there is a signed and framed score sheet forever documenting a timme he did at Robyn and Bill Fall's home.
They told tales on Tuesday of teasing Gail VanDusen, of the couple's travels, of making themselves comfortable, playing cards and eating pizza a rehabilitation facility where Robyn Fall was temporarily staying.
Mark VanDusen was a shy, bashful person, a strong introvert, his wife said, but also quick-witted. "He was quiet to a certain degree... he had a joking about him," Bill Fall said.
Gail and Mark VanDusen did not really fight. "I did," Gail VanDusen said.
"He would just sit there and take it or walk away and say: 'Let me know when you are done.'"
Always busy, he would exhaust her just watching him, Gail VanDusen said.
Mark VanDusen, the same size all his adult life, was active, enjoying golf and tennis and playing softball, starring even when he was older than the other athletes. He would have liked to known his age, in an initial news report, was said to be 34, family members said.
In the summer, Gail and Mark VanDusen would travel northwest, to the Ludington area, where they stayed in an old, sidelined bus.
"We were supposed to go up next week," Gail VanDusen said.
The two had been fighting, about the mess in their home, but they made up, as they always did, in the days before the crash.
"We were good Saturday," she said.
"And then he went on his motorcycle ride."
Published in Jackson Citizen Patriot on July 8, 2018
***********************************************************************************************************
Family, friends remember man killed in motorcycle-deer crash
Updated Jul 6; Posted Jul 5
By Danielle Salisbury [email protected]
JACKSON,MI - Mark VanDusen was happiest among nature, family and friends said. He gardened, growing various vegetables and flowers.
There is a recent picture of him holding a found baby opossum and he would raise tiny squirrels fallen from trees.
He walked in the woods, collected mushrooms and was into recycling before people were into recycling, spending hours taking apart items and keeping what could be reused.
"Mark wanted to save the planet," his friend Robyn Fall said this week.
Mark VanDusen, 64, would take rides on his 1981 Suzuki motorcycle. He died Sunday, July 1, when police believe the bike struck a deer on N. Dettman Road in Blackman Township.
Fall and her husband Bill were sitting with VanDusen's wife of nearly 43 years, Gail, in the house they purchased 30-some years ago and Mark VanDusen gutted and renovated.
He was also a father, to his daughters and the neighborhood; a grandfather; and skilled handyman, capable of any mechanical or constructive labor.
"Mark was a jack of all trades. He could do anything, and he did," Gail VanDusen said. "And now, I got to do it."
Sunday, Mark VanDusen, 64, died in what Robyn Fall called a "freak accident" on N. Dettman Road in Blackman Township.
He was riding his 1981 Suzuki motorcycle and police believe he hit a deer north of I-94. A passerby who stopped to move the animal found him and the motorcycle in a grassy ditch.
Mark Vandusen was riding a 1981 Suzuki and was wearing a helmet, Jester said, when police believe he encountered the deer.
Gail VanDusen said he had been out for a ride, as he sometimes did, without a particular destination.
She had been in their pool and tried to call, four or five times. She left a message without response, and she knew he was gone. It wasn't just a sense. "I knew."
Soon, two police officers were knocking on the door.
Gail VanDusen asked one of them for a hug.
On Tuesday afternoon, she shared stories with laughter and frankness, and without tears. "I'll cry later," she said.
Their relationship, like most, was imperfect. "I hated him a lot, but I loved him more."
The two had gone to the same schools since kindergarten. Their families lived within about three blocks, hers on Hallett Street and his on Bush Street in the northwest part of Jackson.
They shared a government class at Jackson High School and Gail VanDusen disliked him and his behavior.
Mark VanDusen, 64, was a father to two daughters, a grandfather and "jack-of-all trades." He died Sunday, July 1, in a motorcycle-deer crash in Blackman Township.
She officially met him at their 1971 baccalaureate ceremony, and on graduation day, she asked him for a kiss. "He dipped me and planted one on me," she said.
"I was like, oh..., I want this for the rest of my life."
Years later, they got together for good.
He worked various jobs, for a dairy company early in their marriage and in carpentry/maintenance for Vermeulen Furniture in Jackson, and since January 2001, for John Campau, president and CEO of Comtronics, the Jackson communications and security company.
They bought their house, then in dilapidated condition, in the 1980s for $3,500. It is now restored, with refurbished wood trimmings and cherry cabinets.
The couple had two daughters, Colleen VanDusen and Becky Schiffman, who brought them four grandchildren.
He was a great father and grandfather, his wife said. "His love for them, and the child in him," she said when asked what made him so.
While he worked in the yard, he would call over his grandchildren, who live across the street, to play.
He enjoyed their activities as much as they did, Bill Fall said.
Gail VanDusen long ran a daycare at their home off High Street in Jackson and Mark VanDusen was the "neighborhood daddy."
He would fix area children's bicycles. "He did everything and he did things for everybody, everyone," his wife said.
Robyn Fall and her son recalled Mark VanDusen giving a homeless man a hoodie.
Fall's husband Bill is a truck driver and when he was away, he would send his friend to check on or aid Robyn, sitting Tuesday in a wheelchair. "You could always call Mark."
The couple played cards, euchre or hearts, with Mark and Gail VanDusen, their friends for several decades. The men usually won. Mark VanDusen so infrequently lost that there is a signed and framed score sheet forever documenting a timme he did at Robyn and Bill Fall's home.
They told tales on Tuesday of teasing Gail VanDusen, of the couple's travels, of making themselves comfortable, playing cards and eating pizza a rehabilitation facility where Robyn Fall was temporarily staying.
Mark VanDusen was a shy, bashful person, a strong introvert, his wife said, but also quick-witted. "He was quiet to a certain degree... he had a joking about him," Bill Fall said.
Gail and Mark VanDusen did not really fight. "I did," Gail VanDusen said.
"He would just sit there and take it or walk away and say: 'Let me know when you are done.'"
Always busy, he would exhaust her just watching him, Gail VanDusen said.
Mark VanDusen, the same size all his adult life, was active, enjoying golf and tennis and playing softball, starring even when he was older than the other athletes. He would have liked to known his age, in an initial news report, was said to be 34, family members said.
In the summer, Gail and Mark VanDusen would travel northwest, to the Ludington area, where they stayed in an old, sidelined bus.
"We were supposed to go up next week," Gail VanDusen said.
The two had been fighting, about the mess in their home, but they made up, as they always did, in the days before the crash.
"We were good Saturday," she said.
"And then he went on his motorcycle ride."
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