Mark Andrew Burseth

A devoted man of God, brother to Steve, John, Daniel, Dustin, and Hope. Beloved husband to Lorraine Burseth, and caring father to Charity, Autumn, David, and Megan.

Born to Charles and Rita Burseth at Long Beach Community Hospital. Raised in Long Beach, where he attended Longfellow Elementary, Hughes Middle School, and graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School in 1966. He received a Bachelor's degree in Zoology from California State University, Long Beach. He was a Long Beach native through and through. He lived there 57 of his 69 years. However, he did live Orange County for 12 years.

In his early years, he enjoyed playing baseball with the neighborhood boys, pulling pranks on his siblings, and even had his own paper route. His first job was working for his father's art supply company while in high school. After he graduated from college, he worked there full time and eventually ran the family business till 1997. He used his business skills to transition into bookkeeping and tax preparation, and he eventually worked as a bookkeeper for Abrams & Clark Pharmacy until spring of 2016.

He met his sweetheart, Lorraine, while attending a church singles group in 1978. They dated for two years and married in 1980 at their home church, the Crystal Cathedral. They honeymooned in Hawaii and returned there many times throughout their marriage. During their 36 years of marriage, they produced 4 beautiful children: Charity, Autumn, David, and Megan.

He enjoyed baseball, his favorite team being the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was a loyal Christian and attended church faithfully throughout his life; Warner Avenue Baptist, First Baptist Church of Lakewood, the Crystal Cathedral, and his last church, Cal Heights Baptist. He loved the outdoors and longed to be around nature. His favorite thing to do was read outside. He was well traveled, having visited Canada, Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, and many other places. He was an avid reader and loved to devour books about history, wars, presidents, and baseball. Of course, his favorite book was the Bible. He loved the Word of God and shared it with anyone who would listen. He believed in loving everyone as if they were his neighbor.

Mark lived an extraordinary life, despite being born with a genetic bone disease, osteogenesis imperfecta. OI affects every bone in the body, making them brittle and easy to break. It affected him throughout his childhood with many broken bones and surgeries, and later on as an adult through loss of hearing. Regardless of this adversity, he was a caring and good-natured man, strong in his convictions and beliefs. He loved the Lord with every fiber of his being and committed his life to serving Him. His second greatest loves were his wife and family. He was an exemplary family man, faithful husband, and thoughtful father.

We were tremendously blessed to have his joyful presence in our lives. He left a lasting legacy to all who knew and loved him. He touched so many hearts. His family and loved ones will miss him dearly, but will always remember him fondly. He always had a song in his heart and a twinkle in his eye. We only wish we had been blessed with more time with him. However, we know he is rejoicing in heaven with our Lord and Savior. May he dwell in paradise until we see his cheerful smile again.

Mark's Celebration of Life service is being held Saturday, May 27th, 2017 at 1:00 pm at Cal Heights Baptist Church, 4130 Gardenia Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90807. In lieu of flowers, any love gift/donation to help his family will be greatly appreciated:

https://www.gofundme.com/in-memory-of-mark-burseth#