Obituary of Mark Pounder

Mark was born in Cranbrook and grew up In Canal Flats. Adults thought him an odd child or at least exceedingly shy. A terrible introvert, he had few friends in childhood. As a teenager, he learned to access his social personality using (sometimes abusing) alcohol, and--for the next 25 years--he valued his friends more than everything he owned. Though bright, he was a rather poor student, scraping through high school in Invermere and college in Cranbrook. Through invaluable family connections, he acquired a job at Crestbrook Forest Industries right out of college; here his genius really shone, and he became known as a 'computer guy' a moniker that followed him throughout his career. He played slow-pitch, hockey, and golf, all rather poorly. In private, he liked fantasy fiction, computer games, and Lego. As an adult, he loved Leanne, Thea, Denise, and Beki; however, his fundamental misunderstanding of human nature undermined each of those relationships, until he found enlightenment with Beki, and he truly loved her more than the light of the sun or the peerless creations of his own imagination. His career advanced slowly, and he eventually became an Executive with Tembec. When Canfor acquired the local Sawmills his career success stopped; in 2023, they inexplicably turned on him and--after 36 years--he left. At 55 he toyed briefly with retirement, but found that he still had some career benefit to offer. The awesome people at Stella-Jones believed in him enough to give him an amazing job in September 2024, and--with Beki by his side--for a short time, everything was perfect. He got sick on December 9th, 2024 and received his terminal cancer diagnosis on January 13, 2025. Literally hundreds of his family and friends rallied around him in support, and he did his best to fight his illness in any way that was available to him. He is survived by his wife Beki, his Sister Tricia and her husband Jeff, his brother Martin and his wife Tamara, in addition to many many family and friends, who-if named--would fill this page and the next.

If love could have saved him, he would have lived forever.

Written by Mark Pounder

Predeceased by his father, Marvin Pounder, his mother Jean Pounder and his brother, Michael Pounder

A Celebration of Life to be held at a later date. In lieu of flower, donations can be made to the east Kootenay Foundation for Health at https://www.ekfh.ca or to JoeAnna's House in Kelowna at https://joeannashouse.com/

Beki and the family would like to thank Dr. Schielke and all the health care workers at the East Kootenay Regional Hospital and the Kelowna General Hospital