Roll Call Tribute

Mark Andrew Busing
September 28, 1986 ~ May 18, 2022

Mark Andrew Busing was born September 28, 1986, in McCook, Nebraska, and passed away May 18, 2022, in Houston, Texas, likely due to a recently diagnosed medical condition.

Throughout his whole life Mark was compassionate, loving, thoughtful and concerned. He was also funny, curious, and talkative. He was a person who had many long-standing friends, and was devoted to them and his family, always eager to visit, listen, and help.

Mark loved travel, beginning with his early school years in Indonesia. While living in Indonesia, he attended Jakarta International School (JIS), and formed many life-long friendships with friends and classmates from a score of countries. He played rugby and softball on JIS high school teams, and traveled with them in competitions spanning an international school league comprising Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Manila, and Taipei. After returning to the USA for university and his later professional work career, he continued his travels, returning to Jakarta and Bali several times. Mark also traveled with his family on vacations throughout Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Alaska.

Mark loved politics, and while in college campaigned for candidates and policies promoting social justice and compassionate government. He remained interested politics after graduation, and was always ready to debate political topics with friends.

Mark loved athletics. He played baseball, soccer, basketball, softball, and rugby. In Jakarta, he and his brother Scott played baseball until the limiting age of 16. Their highest-division games were played in the national stadium complex in Jakarta. He co-captained the JIS high school rugby team as a senior, a year in which they won the league championship. At university, he continued rugby with the Texas A&M club team during his freshman year, after which he (and his parents) felt it was time to hang up the cleats and concentrate on his studies. He loved Nebraska football and basketball, and once he moved to Houston developed a strong attachment to Astros baseball.

Mark loved science, which lead him to an undergraduate degree in geology at Texas A&M, and a master’s degree in geophysics at Stephen F Austin university. At SFA, Mark was the president and co-founder of the SEG student chapter, and completed his MS degree with honors.

Mark loved movies. He’d seen hundreds, liked most, and had many, many favorites. He watched those favorites many times, but would happily watch any of them again with friends or family. He could repeat scores of lines from movies old and new. His favorites were often old comedies (Blues Brothers, Spies Like Us, Three Amigos) or animated movies (WALL-E, or any Pixar movie). More recently, Mark loved the Guardians of the Galaxy movies and the entire Marvel series.

Mark loved music. His favorite genre was probably blues, but he listened to a wide variety of styles and eras, as diverse as hip-hop to 60’s rock.

Mark loved computers, software, and computer games. He began playing games when he was 4 or 5, in the early years of computer gaming, and never stopped. He graduated from Mario and Sonic, to Goldeneye and Counter Strike, and finally to WOW, League of Legends, and other PC games. But for Mark, the attraction wasn’t just the games – it was the ever-wider online group of people he met and friends he made.

Despite this variety, Mark remained throughout his life a person of simple needs and a humble attitude. He never sought extravagant possessions, donated freely to worthy causes, and never claimed to be smarter or know more than others.

Mark’s life was too short, but it was full. We who are left behind will miss him, but can be comforted by our many memories of a loving, giving, and fun-loving person.