By Rita McInerney

In life, Mark Druffner had “a way of touching everyone.” In death, because of his courage and compassion, other people are being touched in helping ways.

Mark Druffner died Sept. 23, from complications of a lifetime illness. It was three days after his 27th birthday. He had worked at the Northridge Kroger store at 8331 Roswell Road for three-and-a-half years. Before that he worked for five years at a Kroger’s on Shallowford Road.

In Mark’s memory, Northridge Kroger’s has pledged $10,000 to his parish, Sacred Heart in downtown Atlanta. The first $1,00 on the pledge was presented in mid-December, the remainder will be presented in $1,000 amounts each year around his birthdate.

A regular customer at the store, Bill Chesney has his own way of seeing that Mark’s name lives on. He and his wife, Millie, contributed money to have an artesian well dug in a poor village in Mindanao inhabited by Tiboli tribes-people.

Father Steve Yander, Sacred Heart pastor, said the $10,000 will “be used to help the youth of the parish.” Mark would have liked that, as he would have appreciated the Chesneys remembering him with their gift to people halfway around the world.

Mr. Chesney is confident that Sister Cecelia Lorayes, a “very dedicated person” at the Santa Cruz Mission directed by Passionist Father Rex Mansmann, will make sure their gift helps villagers who now walk miles to get their daily water.

A large plaque will bear Mark’s name and a verse the donors have selected. In all, the Chesneys have provided funds for about 150 memorial wells in villages on Luzon and Mindanao islands.

Mark reached out to people with love and friendship although his life was shadowed by physical problems.

Martha Ann Druffner, Mark’s mother, said he was diagnosed as having a brain tumor at three years of age. While the tumor was not cancerous, doctors said, it was growing into one of the ventricles of the brain. Surgery to remove part of the tumor affected the small boy’s vision. He had partial vision in one eye and could see only shadows with the other.

His vision worsened during his high school years because the tumor had grown enough to require the insertion of tubes to facilitate circulation of fluids.

Mrs. Druffner said her son’s impaired vision made his school years difficult. After attending several schools, including one for the visually impaired, Mark graduated from Shamrock High School in Decatur.

While at Shamrock, his mother said, he planted a park in a Decatur neighborhood as a special ecology project. Now, a group of students who attended Shamrock with him are planting a tree in his memory.

He was enterprising as a young boy, his mother recalled, “he started his own business, doing yard work. Later, he went around to local businessmen and sold them on his designing and distributing brochures and fliers.”

He had a “great delight in people, in ecology, in art, the theater,” Mrs. Druffner went on to say. “He worked in charcoals, in textures.”

Craig Reeve, manager at Northridge Kroger, said, “A lot of the customers really miss him. Mark was great with people, always cheerful and pleasant. He’s one (employee) I heard more customer compliments about than anyone else in the store.”

Netti Fullenwinder, who manages the deli department, said Mark “was the type of person who made your day. He always had a smile on his face. The customers loved him. He was exceptional, considerate of everyone.”

“He never called in sick, never was late,” she went on to say. “He was the type of person we all want to be.”

Manager Reeve said the $10,000 pledge is being paid out of store profits and the employees are willing to work harder in memory of their cheerful coworker.

A close friend, Danny Hart, who has cerebral palsy, said Mark “was my heart. He knew when I was feeling down and I knew when he was.” The two attended a prayer group for young adults at Holy Cross Church where members helped Danny deal with his friend’s death. He also met with parish Stephen ministers.

Danny said Mark first reached out to him when both were “studying computers” at DeKalb Technical Institute. There was something “special” about their friendship, Danny believes. “God sends us people that we need.”

The friends shared many good times together, even took a seven-day Caribbean cruise to places like San Juan and St. Thomas in late 1990. It was great, not having loving parents “telling us what to do. We went and we did everything,” Danny said.

A few years ago, Karl Druffner took his children to Sacred Heart Church for Sunday Mass. Here his own parents had been married and he had been christened, made his First Communion and attended early grades of the school. The younger Druffners loved the beautiful old church, their father said, especially Mark. They’ve been attending ever since.

Sister Valentina Sheridan, RSM, parish administrator, recalled Mark as being interested in people, with a “spirit of love and kindness.” To her, the memorial pledge is an indication of how he touched the lives of so many people.

Mark died “very quickly,” his mother said. “I was very thankful.” The tumor caused tremendous pressure in the brain and it was difficult, toward the end, for Mark to stay awake.

After he died, Father Yander celebrated the Liturgy of the Word at the funeral home. About a month later, he celebrated Mass at the Druffner home for family relatives and some friends. The Druffners have two other sons, Keith and Kenneth, and a daughter Elizabeth Ann Bradshaw, who lives in Huntsville, Ala.

Mark’s father is proud that his son, without money or power, was able to influence people in such lasting ways. His mother is thankful. “We were very fortunate to have him 27 years. He used what he had to the fullest and enjoyed whatever he was doing.