Mark Edward Colley

Mark Edward Colley passed away on 11/18/24 after a long battle with leukemia. He was 70 years old.

Mark was born in San Diego on February 14, 1954, the oldest of 3 siblings. After elementary school, his family moved to Wellston, Ohio in Jackson County. There, he attended Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School and graduated from Wellston High School, class of 1972, where he played trumpet in the band. He served in the Navy for four years, where he worked as a journalist.

He held a variety of jobs over the years, including radio DJ, swim instructor, shoe salesman, and bugler playing taps at funerals. He spent many years as an advertising copywriter and freelance writer, for which he won multiple awards. In his later years, he worked as a semi truck driver. He enjoyed driving because it gave him time to listen to audiobooks, Spanish lessons, jazz, and big band music, and still come home to his family at night.

Mark was a storyteller at heart, a wordsmith with a great sense of humor. He regaled friends and family with tales of his adventures in the canyons of San Diego, as a youth in Wellston, and with the Navy in the Pacific. He was an avid reader and a life-long learner. He listened to the entire Bible more than once, and his faith was strong.

He was a family man, and greatly enjoyed the time he spent with his wife, two daughters, and nieces and nephews. He was always ready to read bedtime stories, play pretend, or help with homework. We spent many an evening watching football together, and he could have been a Jeopardy champion.

We miss him deeply.

He is preceded in death by his father Paul Colley and his mother Augusta (Sandy) Helgason. He is survived by his wife Susan Silliman Colley, his daughters Elizabeth and Bonnie Colley, sister Helen Colley and brother Eric Colley. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The James Cancer Hospital or the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

His family will receive friends on Monday, November 25, from 4-6pm at Cotner Funeral Home, 7369 East Main Street, Reynoldsburg, with his service to follow at 6pm.

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