The Tuttle Times
Chickasha, Grady Co, OK
Published: 17 Mar 2004
(permission granted)

Posted by: Sandi Carter

Mark Tanner, 78, of Tuttle, passed away Monday, March 8, 2004, at Norman Regional Hospital. He was born on Dec. 26, 1925, in Coalgate, Okla.

He was the youngest child of seven children born to Ernest C. Tanner and Mary Jane (Davidson) Tanner.

Mark grew up during the depression years on a farm near Coalgate. There he and his brothers and sisters learned how to work hard at a young age.

At the age of 18, he was drafted into the U. S. Navy and served his country for nearly two years overseas during WWII. On January 31, 1946 he was honorably discharged in Norman, Okla

Then, several months later, he met and soon married Marie Davis. They were married on May 11, 1946 in Norman and together they raised two sons. During his earlier years, Mark worked 30 years in the oil field. In the 1940s and early 1950s he lived and worked throughout Oklahoma and Texas. In the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s he worked overseas in Brazil, Columbia, Costal Rica and Indonesia.

In 1970 he started his own water well drilling business while living in Paoli. For 27 years he operated M. N. Tanner Drilling.

He and Marie moved to Tuttle in 1977, there he operated the business until he retired in 1997.

Throughout his life Mark loved being outdoors and working with his hands. He enjoyed carpentry work and even built his own home when he lived in Paoli. He also enjoyed woodworking and fishing.

He was preceded in death by his parents and six brothers and sisters.

Survivors include his wife of 57 years, Marie of home in Tuttle; two sons, Harold Tanner and wife Gail of Tuttle and Ron Tanner and wife Linda of Oklahoma City; four grandchildren, Staci Armstrong and husband Robby, and Nicholas, Kyle and Ashli Tanner; one great granddaughter, Kali Armstrong; and two sisters-in-law, Roberta and Dual Tanner both of Purcell.

Graveside funeral services were at 2 p.m. Wednesday, March 10, at Hillside Cemetery in Purcell. Officiating was Rev. Jerry Banks. Arrangements by Wilson-Little Funeral Home in Newcastle.