Aug. 1, 2001- A gentle rain began to fall just as hundreds of voices were lifted in song, offering all five stanzas of "Amazing Grace," as a final farewell to Mark Marin, the man whom Gov. Charles W. Turnbull dubbed St. Thomas's headmaster. As the hymn ended, the rain stopped as abruptly as it had begun.
Nearly a thousand adults, youths and children made their way to the Antilles School campus Wednesday morning to pay their last respects to Marin, who had been the school's headmaster for 22 years.
One Virgin Islander observed it was the largest group he had seen assembled for a memorial service since the funeral of the late Gov. Cyril E. King.
Marin died July 27 of a head injury after falling the night before at his St. Thomas home. He would have been 52 on Aug. 7. His death last week stunned the community.
In eulogizing his son, Ken Marin noted that Mark had donated his eyes, lungs, kidneys and heart to "people who would have died" without Mark's gift to them. "Our headmaster is dead," he said, "but our head master is not really dead."
Marin's three children, teen-agers Luke and Andrea, and recent college graduate Amy, took turns courageously and gracefully saying goodbye to a father they clearly loved and respected.
The value of Marin's contributions to the community became ever clearer as those who spoke — siblings, colleagues, friends — noted his many accomplishments as well his well-known attributes, foremost among them his love of life.
His brother Kevin, who is a teacher and administrator at Country Day School on St. Croix, offered a twist on the Greek adage, "The unexamined life is not worth living," saying that where Mark was concerned, one could say, "The unlived life is not worth examining."
Elliott "Mac" Davis, whose friendship with Marin spanned two decades, said through his ups and downs Mark had grown over the years both personally and professional, and that despite his untimely death, he had "lived long enough to come into his own."
Burial at sea was scheduled Wednesday afternoon.
