A friend and fellow Optiboarder has passed

[Fezz]

With great shock, and sadness, I come this evening to announce the passing of a fellow Optiboarder.

Mark Morris, aka DragonlensmanWV, has lost his brief but courageous battle with cancer.

Mark was a pillar of our Optiboard community. He was a master at his craft and was more than eager to share his wisdom and extend a helping hand whenever possible. His contributions to Optiboard were many. He was always eager to lend his experience, share his knowledge, offer to do a difficult job, and provide a camaraderie that many of us will miss greatly.

I have had the honor to know Mark personally and have dined, joked, and laughed with him on several occasion. I truly enjoyed his company. He helped me on many occasions and was always eager to do it again! He was a full fledged member of this community and gave us his all. We will all be better for his contributions. They will be missed.

Mark and his family appreciated the support that we showed during these trying times.

I think that it would be appropriate to write a few words, if you are moved to do so, here. I will be sure that his family checks in to see how much he was loved here and how much that he will be missed.

I feel honored to have known Mark. I am a better optician because of him. I am lucky to have such a person in my life to call friend. I will miss him.

[wmcdonald]

Mark will be sorely missed. May God bless him and his family during this difficult time.

Warren

[thelittlestnixon]

Although i have not been on this forum long, i did enjoy reading his posts and he will be missed. I have lost family to cancer, so i can understand the pain his family is going through. My thoughts go out to you.

[Wes]

I, too, am a better optician because of Mark. He will be missed.

[bob_f_aboc]

I count myself lucky to have been able to meet Mark and share in his knowledge. Mark and his family will remain in our thoughts and prayers.

[drk]

That guy really understood high minus. A gem of an optician and a super-nice guy.

[obxeyeguy]

I guess I was one of the lucky ones also to actually have met Mark, and his wife. As Fezz said, Mark also helped me out on a couple of occasions, as I needed a real craftsman to do the work, and I knew no one better.

Our industry has lost one of the best.

Mark

[Barry Santini]

Yes, one of our very best! An artist in rimless!

Barry

[Diane]

I am so sorry to have lost a fellow optiboarder/optician. He will be missed.

Diane

[HarryChiling]

Mark had the voice of a kitten but the heart of a lion. If anyone is interested in some light reading about who this guy was check out:

http://www.ecpmag.com/1webmagazine/2010/06jun/content/optical_philanthropy/giving-the-gift-sight.asp

A poster on this board mentioned a sad case of a young girl who was acting out because she couldn't see. Mark jumped into action without even being asked. He was able to get multiple people from multiple states to come together and provide this young girl with much needed vision. Now we are not talking about apair of stock poly lenses these were designed for the young lady to look cosmetically appealing and provide good vision.

That was the type of person I knew Mark to be, generous and loving. I pulled out the pair of specs he gave me in NC a few years back when he heard I had redone and older vintage pair of glasses. I found a note with his handwriting on it, just a simple "Hary", but it made me smile.

I remember a member on this board that needed some older glasses done that were very difficult, Barry even had a piece of equipment that would make the process easier, Barry mailed the equipment to Mark and Mark not only made one setof lenses bua fewshapes to choose from and postedpictures and how to on this forum so that he could share a little bit of his skill with the world.

Another thing that comes to mind is the way he used to flip a lensblank around and grind into the front curve using it as the back curve, pure genious.

I'm gonna miss you Mark, save a seat at the big table for me you've definately earned your spot.

[Johns]

If you've never met Mark, Fezz and Harry's posts really sum him up. He was a big guy (size 14 shoe), but if you weren't standing right next to him, you'd miss what he was saying. He was one of the most talented and generous people I have ever met.

He will be missed by many.

[Craig]

Rest in Peace.

I feared logging in to read this news. I never met him, but we bonded with our views and his talents; who knew such a big footed guy- I am only a 13-was so talented with his hands and mind!
I have a card he recently sent me telling me that he will stop in when in Florida; I will cherish the card and fondly wait to meet him in person. Everytime I send or see a chocolate covered strawberry it will remind me of him and put a smile on my face. I remember the time he got the girl glasses that no one else could do and will use it as inspiration to give back more to the optical community.

Thinking of you and your family.
Love
Craig Chasnov

[WFruit]

I never had the privledge to meet Mark personally, but we did correspond on several occasions here. I wish I could write more, but I just don't have words adequate to express my sorrow at his passing.

~William Fruit

[Ejmaxie]

My condolences to his family and I will miss his insight

[Judy Canty]

The next un-Expo will not be the same without Mark.