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Mark Craig LaBarre, age 55, born January 16, 1951, in Minneapolis, Minn., died with dignity and peace July 22, 2006, in Phoenix, Arizona, from complications of diabetes and other maladies from Agent Orange.

He is preceded in death by mother, Virginia V. LaBarre (1961), aunt Beatrice LaBarre Wagner (1971), and grandmother Dena Ecklund LaBarre (1980).

Mark is survived by daughter, Mattie Jean LaBarre, of Ellsworth, Minn.; twin sister, Mary LaBarre and husband, Walter Shanks, of Woodbury, Minn.; uncle, Jerry LaBarre, of Scottsdale, AZ; and other relatives.

Mark had a wonderful smile and a hearty laugh, and he loved to tell stories. He was kind hearted and always smiling. He loved to fish and hunt, and spent many happy childhood summers at Gram’s country home in Cushing, Wis. As a child he lived in St. Paul, Minn., and attended Van Buren and Mounds Park Jr. High. After their mother’s death Mark and Mary lived with Aunt Bea and Gram LaBarre. The family moved to Taylors Falls, Minn., in 1965; the twins graduated from Taylors Falls High School in 1969.

Mark worked at 3M in St. Paul, Minn., until entering the Army in 1971. He served in Viet Nam as an infantryman and received an honorable discharge in 1973.

Mark married Janeen Riebschlager in 1985 and daughter Mattie Jean was born in 1987. They lived in St. Paul and later Taylors Falls. He worked for Chicago Northwestern Railroad for over 20 years and then worked at various jobs in the St. Croix Falls, Wis., area until moving to Phoenix, AZ in 2003.

He loved Arizona’s warm climate and wanted to be buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona in Phoenix. A military service was held there July 26, 2006.

A celebration of his life open house will be held Saturday, August 19, 2006, from 2-5 p.m. at the American Legion Hall, in St. Croix Falls, Wis., located in the Industrial Park on Hwy. 8.

I’d like the memory of me to be a happy one. I’d like to leave an afterglow of smiles when day is done, of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days.

In lieu of flowers memorials preferred or donate to Disabled American Veterans. He suffered from undiagnosed posttraumatic stress disorder for years and became a disabled vet in 2003.

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