Cousin Mark

Betty Hester
Aug 27, 2017 · 3 min read

I will never go to Africa or anywhere with my cousin Mark.

Today I spoke with Cousin Mark’s Father, Pat. Pat’s Grandfather made some furniture for all of his children. I have my Grandmother’s and I also have the furniture that he made for Aunt Mil. Aunt Mildred was Pat’s Mother. In order to keep this furniture in the Peace family, I will give all of my pieces of Grandpa Peace’s furniture to Pat and his family. I am keeping the three-cornered cabinet which is my favorite. Pat already has some of the furniture that was handmade by Grandpa Peace and I would like the three-cornered cabinet to go to Aunt Lucile Peace Calhoun’s family. Some of her family still live near the home place in Tennessee. Hopefully, Laura’s daughter will get it before I die.

I met Mark Quinn at Merry Acres in Albany. Mark is 55 years old and his life has been spent guiding people on Safaris in Africa and Florida. His Grandmother, Mildred Peace Quinn was my Grandmother’s youngest sibling. Aunt Mil was younger than my Mother. They were very close and I loved Aunt Mil.

Aunt Mil’s son, Pat (WC) was an African Safari guide with his wife Donna. After saving enough money, I was going to Africa with Pat and Donna and several other members of their family and about 8 others. My Mother insisted that I not go. She had a funny feeling and refused to left me leave on this trip.

As the group was headed home, they were all in the Hotel Nairobi when it was bombed. There were 8 members of the group killed and Pat and Donna and their children were seriously injured. I’m so glad I listened to my Mother.

Mark had a tour scheduled for September 2017 and I had already made my deposit. Laura’s Dad died and she is the caregiver for her Mother. Since Laura can’t go with me, I canceled my plans to go with Mark this year. So Mark came to visit me in Albany.

Mark was to stay at Laura’s house on Parker which is only used for storage. It had been damaged in a recent storm and has a new roof and new electrical box. What we didn’t know was that the entire house needs re-wiring. It is unsafe. So, Mark stayed at Merry Acres Motel for two weeks and then at Fowler Farms for a week before leaving.

This is an account of most of the money I spent on Mark while he was here.

1151 Merry Acres

7 Chehaw

155 Longhorn Steakhouse (Mary and Laura)

65 Longhorn Steakhouse

57 Longhorn Steakhouse

52 Nothing Fancy

32 Nothing Fancy

45 Villa Garganos

52 Blackbeards

15 Taco Bell

Total is $1630 and many other meals and misc, plus the $1000 deposit I lost on my trip and the $500 I gave Mark as a donation to help him buy land in Africa. That’s a lot of money for me and would pay for a nice a vacation for Laura and me. It will take me three or four years to save enough money to go to Africa since I spent most of my 2017 Africa trip money to take care of Mark.

Mark didn’t have any money and was very sad and lonely. His wife filed for divorce and wants everything he owns. We talked a lot and it was all about him. He never asked me about my family. I showed him couple of photo books when we were in the car driving around and told him he could keep them to look at and he never bothered. I do realize that he was heart broken and at a cross roads in his life. He didn’t have any where to stay and nothing but his clothes and Hummer to call his own.

He is a sweet and handsome and knows a lot about wildlife and flora. He is kind and shared a lot of his adventures with Laura and me. I have to think about whether I do want to go to Africa with him.

He is planning on purchasing some land with help from some friends and building an education facility to help teach conservation and various other things. He said there will always be a place there for Laura and me. I hope his dreams come true and he succeeds in his plans. He doesn’t seem to have been very successful so far but I wish him the best.

)
Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade