Mark Edwin Whiting

Mark Edwin Whiting, our stalwart and loving husband, father and grandfather, passed away peacefully at home on Saturday, June 21, 2025 following a determined struggle with blood cancer.

Mark was born February 21, 1947 in Tacoma, Washington to Laverne Casper and Ethel Brimhall Whiting. He was the oldest of two children. His younger brother Steven passed away at the age of 11.

Mark had a lifelong passion for genealogy and family history which was instilled in him by family stories told to him during yearly road trips to visit family in Idaho and Wyoming. His father and uncles were avid outdoorsmen and off-roaders, driving their jeeps into the hills for camping expeditions and rockhounding. In the 1970s, Verne built and gave Mark his own red jeep which Mark sold to buy an engagement ring when he married Nancy Jacobsen in 1981.

Mark preferred a more studious lifestyle. After graduating from high school in 1965 he attended BYU, served a mission in Brazil for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and then returned to BYU to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education.

He loved learning languages and speaking to people in his favorite languages, even at the dinner table. He spoke German and Portuguese but he also studied Russian and Arabic.

He taught school in Jordan School District for 33 ½ years before retiring in 2004. He was committed to helping his students succeed. When asked to teach a special class for gifted students he brought a University of Utah mathematics professor into hisclassroom for three years of intensive mathematics instruction which allowed his 5th grade students to “own” their mathematical abilities and had them doing quadratic equations.

At age 40, while struggling with debilitating migraine headaches, he decided he needed to improve his health and began daily swimming, bike riding and weight-lifting which he continued until his blood cancer made such things impossible due to lack of oxygen.

Mark’s passion for genealogy and family history are legendary. He corresponded with people all over the world and traveled to many family reunions and family home sites searching out stories and information. In the hills of Kentucky, he discovered that television was such a new item in households that many people could still recite stories of people up to five generations back. He also worked to enthuse others to do their family history work and helped many to research and document their own family trees.

Mark loved being a father and took his children with him anywhere just to show them off but he particularly wanted to take them to family reunions. His idea of a vacation was to go and visit relatives and introduce his family to them.

His back yard garden was also a passion. He frequently, talked about the importance of food storage and being able to grow your own food. Though he tried 8 times to grow a peach tree,the bores got them every time. He seemed to like experimenting with new irrigation systems and trying out new garden contraptions as much as consuming the produce. Even in his last years, he could often be found digging in the garden with his oxygen tank in tow.

Mark loved Jesus Christ. His life reflected his efforts to base all his decisions on the principles taught by our Savior and his prophets. He also loved people and he was always looking for ways to show that love through service.

Mark is survived by his wife Nancy, his children, Virginia (Matthew) Pine, Allen Whiting, Joel (Janell) Whiting, Steven (Faith) Whiting, and his Grandchildren, Theo Whiting, Lyla Whiting, Oswin Whiting, Anna Pine, Sarah Pine, Melody Whiting, and Ylva Whiting. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother Steven. We know that Mark is reveling in the grand family reunion in heaven and is rejoicing in his new opportunities for service.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 Saturday July 5, 2025 at the Eastridge Stake Center at 1187 E Draper Parkway, in Draper Utah with a viewing at ten o’clock. Interment will take place at Larkin Sunset Gardens Cemetery immediately following the services.

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