Mark Ottey, 78

Mark, 78, passed away peacefully at his home on June 17, 2021, after a four year battle with cancer. We all cherish the quality time we had with him up to the end of his life.

Mark was born Sept. 27, 1942, in Quincy, Illinois, to Mary Miller and Russell E Ottey. His family, including his brother Russell and sister Marcia, moved to Salisbury, Connecticut, during Mark’s first year of life. He attended Hotchkiss School and Vermont Academy. Mark was a part of the community of ski jumpers and spent many hours on the local 60 M jump and traveled throughout the east competing. Mark also had a great passion for hiking and the outdoors, spending several summers working in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

He attended St. Lawrence University in New York where he met his future wife Connie. Their shared love of skiing, hiking and the outdoors fueled their romance and spanned their 61 years of marriage. He briefly spent time in Snoqualmie, Washington, logging and ski jumping. Mark then returned to New England where he and Connie were married and, shortly afterwards, their daughter April was born. The allure of the wide-open spaces drew Mark and Connie west to Colorado. They settled in Boulder where their son Chris was born. After hearing about the untamed beauty of Montana, the Otteys explored the area and fell in love with the Flathead Valley. In 1971 they packed up their Ford pickup and settled on a farm in Creston. They spent many enjoyable years on the farm raising animals and gardening as the kids grew up.

Mark worked as a master carpenter around the valley for 30 years when he decided to pursue his passion for gardening. He ran a business as a market gardener, selling vegetables and bedding plants at farmers markets around the valley. He shared his love for gardening with all those in his life, including his customers, who became like family. His children and grandchildren have fond memories of working in the greenhouses in the spring and harvesting vegetables in the summer.

Mark was an incredibly hard worker and inspired his family to work hard alongside him. He had a remarkable way of banding together with family, friends, or even strangers to experience nature and adventure through hiking, biking, running, backpacking and fishing in the mountains of western Montana. He and Connie took the family on many hikes and camping trips over the years, starting out with a tipi for a tent in the early years. Backpacking throughout Glacier, Yellowstone and Montana’s mountain ranges was memorable. He continued to hike until the end, and especially loved the Swan and Mission Mountain Ranges where he often hiked solo to high mountain lakes on sparse trails until late in his life.

Mark cross-country skied all of his life and enjoyed skiing with his friends, family and grandkids. Skiing and racing with the Glacier Nordic Club for many years, as well as touring in Glacier National Park was a wintertime favorite. He enjoyed several long-distance bike tours across the U.S. and throughout Canada. Upon cycling back into the Flathead Valley from one cross-country ride, he expressed his overwhelming love for the land, people and sense of home in this valley.

Mark lived a life of simplicity in connection with nature, cutting wood to heat their home, and raising and preserving their own food. Mark was kind and gentle to those around him, seeing the needs of others and meeting them without regard to personal cost. He will be deeply missed.

Mark is survived by his wife Connie, daughter April Ottey (Geoff McMichael), son Christopher Ottey (Peggy Ottey), grandchildren Finn and Porter McMichael, and Laurel, Eric, and Timothy Ottey, sister Marcia Raushenbush (John).

He was preceded in death by his parents and brother Russell Ottey Jr.

A memorial will be held Saturday, June 26, at 3 p.m. at Creston Fish Hatchery Pavilion on Kauffman Lane, in Creston.

In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for donations to be made in Mark’s name to Montana Land Reliance or the Ray of Hope.