In Loving Memory of Mark Nishio (1992 - 2016)

Following is a testimony by Following is a testimony by Mark’s father, Hiroyoshi Nishio.

Mark Nishio was born on August 22, 1992 in St. Louis, MO as the fourth child of Hiroyoshi and Susan Nishio. When he was two years old, his family moved to Atlanta, GA then shortly after to Detroit, MI where he attended preschool.

When Mark was in the first grade, his family moved to Indianapolis, IN where his mother’s siblings lived, and finished middle school. He showed an interest in the arts and exhibited a talent in the fine arts. His family moved to Columbus, OH, where he attended and graduated from the Dublin Coffman High School.

After graduating high school, he started to work at a restaurant and was going to the local community college. Mark completed his first 200-mile bicycle trip with his two brothers when he was 20 years old. Just outside of Columbus, his brothers were getting really tired but Mark was really adamant about continuing to reach the end of the journey; even as everyone else quit, Mark rode on alone to finish the journey. Then last year he got in a serious motorcycle accident which broke several of his bones; it took him more than three months to recover and to start back at the bicycle shop.

This year Mark started to study in college again, following in his older brother’s footsteps to be a mechanical engineer. This last Sunday was Father’s Day, on which I was working all day. I visited his apartment and he showed me how he did his sit-ups and pushups in his physical conditioning class, and corrected my pushup form. Mark always gave us a hug when we greeted each other and said, “I love you” when he departed.

The night before the accident, he came to our home. My wife, Mark, and I sat at the dining table to work on his math homework for several hours. It was his older brother’s birthday and before Mark left we called his older brother to wish him “Happy Birthday” and held up the phone so that his older brother could hear his Harley Davidson roar as Mark drove away.

Mark lived a life as my daughter says, “like a bouncing ball: even through difficult times or accidents, he always came back and kept going forward, showing his love and kindness to others.” We are really proud to call him our son and appreciated sharing love and beauty with him. His bouncing spirit went to the spiritual world where we cannot reach him in this physical dimension but he planted seeds of love and kindness in all of us. Although we miss him greatly, I hope you can please cherish his seeds of love and kindness and live well.

Seonghwa Ceremony

Time: 12:00 PM (EST)

Date: June 26, 2016

Location: UC Columbus Church, 4303 Indianola Ave., Columbus, OH

Viewing: The prayer vigil will be held in place of a viewing.