Hometown Living At Its Best 93
Mark and Alexis have two young children, Dallas (4) and
Savannah (2), who are already learning to appreciate
agriculture from their parents. In addition to teaching school,
Mark owns a professional landscaping business. He learned
many of his landscaping skills from his years of working with
national landscape company Ruppert Landscape, Inc.
to let Mark miss his chance. “Just ask her to go somewhere
with you that’s Ag related,” she suggested, which is exactly
what he did.
Mark and Alexis’ first date was a ride to Uvalda to help
an Ag student pick out a cow. “We walked through the
pasture with this kid, Chris, and talked to him about what
to do and how to care for the cow. After we picked one out,
we got it loaded up and took it to his house.” That date
led to another, and in July 2001, Mark and the new Home
Economics teacher at TCHS were married. The next several
years were quite busy. School and after school were all the
same when it came to caring for the kids that came through
their classrooms.
For Mark’s first nine years, he taught Agriculture
Mechanics, which included welding, woodworking,
electrification, electrical wiring, and small engine repair,
Animal Science, and Horticulture as a “single teacher
department. Mr. Donnie Mann was the young Farmer
Teacher and a true mentor and friend to me in my early
years,” said Mark.