Mark J. Allison passed away from cancer on June 20, 2021 in his Sandy, Oregon home surrounded by loved ones.
He was born in Portland, Oregon and was adopted by Jack and Charlotte Allison at the age of six months. They lived in Eugene, Oregon where Jack owned a grocery store, and then moved to Redmond, Oregon when Mark was nine years old, after it came to light that he had bad hay allergies.
In Redmond, Jack owned a lumber yard where Mark cut his teeth helping his dad and learning to work. After completing high school, he went to work full time for his dad as a delivery truck driver for several years, making runs to Portland for lumber and other supplies. Not long after that, he started his own trucking business, making long hauls wherever he was needed.
Later on, he went into the road construction business, ending his road career with Hatch Western in Wilsonville, Oregon. From there, he launched a hydraulics company with two partners, Premier Hydraulics, and went on to branch out on his own and started Allison Power Systems in 2005. He ran the company faithfully for 14 years, until retiring and selling it in October of 2019.
Mark was always quick with a joke and even quicker with a smile. And while he was not able to go fishing as often as he would have liked, it was a great passion of his for most of his life. He also enjoyed hunting, the occasional vintage tractor or car project, and antique motors.
He is survived by his wife Catherine of 32 years, and her two children Tyson and Chandra, his children Christopher, Amanda, and Adam, and his sister Marty.