Love for Darren

I believe most viewing this are already aware of the tragic and untimely passing of my brother Mark Harrison Cohee on February 6, 2019. Our hearts are crushed and we are just trying to figure out how to get through each day. For those who don’t already know, in honoring Mark’s wishes and in the best interest of the family, the decision was made to forgo a traditional funeral and to keep all services extremely private.
We are asking that the utmost care be taken to protect Darren and as such we would appreciate our privacy and ask that no flowers be sent to the home at this time. For those who have been asking how they can help, please read and see below.


For those that truly knew Mark, they know he had the biggest heart in the world. And nearly that entire heart belonged to one very special little boy that thinks the world of his Papa. No one could make Darren light up like his Papa could. From when he was just a baby, you could feel the excitement radiating off of him when Mark would walk in the room. Darren idolizes his dad and worships the ground he walks on. He was always so eager to listen to and learn everything he could from Mark. He is a sponge and soaked up every word from his dad (even though Papa wouldn’t let him say some of them). Those words will forever live on through Darren. He will know and forever cherish the countless hours of living and breathing hockey and playing ball with his dad. He will know and forever cherish learning how to crush a baseball and rip a top shelf slapshot (where Momma keeps the cookie jar). He will know and forever cherish the times spent studying the moon, planets, and stars and dreaming of bigger things. Most importantly he will know and forever cherish the fact that his dad would never give up on him, or even more importantly let him give up on himself. 


But it wasn’t just Darren.. Mark had the same effect on all the little ones. From the time she could crawl, my daughter Corie just gravitated to him. There may have well been no one else in the room when he was there. She still would scream “Uncle MaAark!” every single time she would see him and would run straight to his open arms for a hug and a kiss for his “Corie Girl”. And Lily and Parker and Reed and all the other nieces and nephews somehow always managed to catch that sparkle in his eye and were just drawn to him. I will never ever forget how unassumingly those kids would look into his eyes and see right through to the best in him.


I won’t ever forget the years that we spent growing up together, or the years we spent growing apart to come back together again. I’m so thankful that we got to spend all of our childhood evenings and weekends playing in the fort, or ball in the yard (sometimes in the house, sorry Mom) or on the trampoline. I’ll forever miss the belly laughs and ridiculous movie quotes that seemingly had no end. And I’m soo soo glad that like Darren, I too got to spend countless hours on the street out front and on the ice playing hockey with you. I’m soo glad hockey helped bring us closer again later in life. I’ll always cherish playing with you as an adult and I’ll never forget the way we clicked back to the good old days after years of dust had built up on those old hockey bags. Now, I too will hold tightly to those games we played because I now know for three periods at a time you could be free and just be you. I will always be grateful you were a best man in my wedding and a part of the very beginnings of my beautiful family.


Nicole- I am ever soo grateful you are a part of this beautiful family too. I know times with you guys had the highest of highs and lowest of lows. I am devastated to have lost a brother, but I am honored to have gained a beautiful sister. You are truly an amazing woman and I know how strong you’ve had to be. Take comfort in knowing he can know peace. Thank you for bringing Darren to us. Thank you for the unwavering love and support you have shown. Thank you for being you.


Mom and Dad- you guys must know that you are the best parents anybody could have ever asked for. And you have to know that Mark knows that. And you have to know that you did everything right. You raised two good boys and pointed us in the right direction for our life journeys. We have always been first. We both know you have never once not been there for either of us, even as grown men through all of the challenges we both have faced. You have been through more for the two of us than any parent should ever have to endure. I know we are both eternally grateful and I hope to be half the parent to my kids that you are to us.


Mark - it’s soo incredibly heartbreaking that this world too soon lost a treasure that may have just been a little bit lost in this world. You will be forever ingrained in the hearts of your deeply loving family and friends and pets. We all wish you peace and clarity up above. Please please know that you were never a burden. You HAD a burden, which by definition means it was too heavy for you to carry on your own. Rest easy my brother knowing we all will carry you in our hearts forever. 


To everyone- We deeply appreciate the outpouring of love and kindness while we work our way through this extremely difficult time. We have had countless people reach out to offer prayers, thoughts, condolences, or just to lend an ear or a shoulder. We have had many people ask what they can do to help. Our absolute top priority during all of this has been to protect Mark’s little boy Darren. Due to the untimely nature of Mark’s passing, we were not prepared with an answer as to how anyone could help, but the one thing that we keep coming back to is that no matter what happens, the most important part of this whole thing is Darren. So with that we have decided to open this gofundme for Darren. All contributions made here may be in honor of Mark and will go directly towards helping my Mom and Nicole provide the best type of life they can for Darren.

We also kindly ask that you share any fond memories of Mark on the Mark Cohee Legacy Facebook Page  so that Darren can someday see how loved his Papa was.