Mark Kluksdahl

Mark Kluksdahl was born in Powell, Wyoming, on Jan. 27, 1963, and passed away peacefully in Salt Lake City on April 28, 2024, due to an abdominal aortic aneurism, with Cindi, Dusty and Kasey by his side.

Mark lived in Billings with his wife Cindi. He worked for the State of Montana in the Developmental Disabilities Division as a Quality Control Specialist. Working with people with developmental disabilities was his gift and his passion.

He was predeceased by his father, Gordon; oldest brother, Gary; brother-in-law Ralph Cercy; and Cindi’s parents, Robert and Marilyn Taylor. He leaves behind his mother, Donna (Powell, Wyoming); wife, Cindi; sons Dustyn and Kasey (Cody, Wyoming); brothers Dennis (Fonda) (Butte), Ken (Barb) (Castle Rock, Colorado); sister Karen Cercy (Jenks, Oklahoma); sister-in-law Michelle Kluksdahl (Aurora, Colorado); Cindi’s brother Dan (Mindy) (Billings); as well as many nieces, nephews and cousins.

Mark loved his sons Dusty and Kasey more than anything, and was so proud to be their father.  He worked very hard to keep his lawn and garden beautiful, and loved Basketball, World History, Star Wars and AC/DC.

A celebration of Mark’s life will be announced at a later time. Please see his life story, written by Mark, at www.michelottisawyers.com. In lieu of flowers, please be an organ donor.

Always the teacher, Donna gave the assignment to Mark and his siblings to write their own story prior to the 1989 and the 2008 family reunions. These are Mark’s:

Written by Mark in 1989 for the Kluksdahl Family Reunion:

I was born in Powell, Wyoming, having the distinction of being the only true Wyomingite in our family. My parents are Gordon Kluksdahl and Donna Dennis Kluksdahl. I have three older brothers (Gary, Dennis, Ken) and an older sister (Karen). As soon as I could sit up in the wagon, I became the youngest recruit in Gary’s 7th Cavalry. Karen was the nurse and I was the wounded soldier.

In fourth grade, we had a teacher who loved to play kickball, so at the drop of a hat, we would leave our schoolwork and head out to the playground for a game of kickball. And can you believe it, I actually played the alto clarinet in the sixth grade! (I’m sure Mom and Dad wore earplugs during my practice.)

Sports became a big thing for me in Junior High. I lettered in football, track and basketball. Insects and their behavior still intrigued me, so in eighth grade, I went to the District Science Fair with my project “Why Ants Lay Trails.”

I was the last of the Kluksdahls to enter the halls of PHS (Do you suppose that made the staff happy?). Some of the highlights of high school were singing in the choir (one of my hidden talents), and lettering in cross-country and basketball twice. Basketball was my true love and I spent many hours practicing (probably should have been studying). I was voted Most Improved Player my Junior Year, Most Valuable Player my Senior Year and made the West Region All-Star Team my Senior year. I escorted the Homecoming Queen and her attendants my Senior Year.

Summers and after school from junior high through college, were spent doing lawns, being a box-boy at the grocery store, working for the School District, City Recreation Dept., City Parks, Country Club, landscaping and last, but not least, many hours at Pizza Hut. My sophomore year, I joined Youth Conservation Corp and spent the summer at a camp in the Crandal area mountains working for the Forest Service. We built an Elk trapping station in Sunlight that is still in use today.

After high school, I spent two years at NWCC and discovered BEER, which did reflect in my grades! I started in the business field but decided this was not for me and switched to Education. I’m attending EMC at this time, majoring in Elementary Education.

As I recall many Thanksgiving dinners with family, I remember Gary telling many family stories and everyone laughing. And waiting with “bated breath” to see if you were going to sit at the dining room table or be delegated to one of the card tables. I remember my siblings brought home their “future spouses” — and Mom telling us to behave and not be too noisy — I’m sure it was overwhelming for these new family members-to-be, but they quickly recovered and became one of the family.

I remember the fun trips to Grandma Ida and Grandpa Ed’s farm in Crooks, South Dakota, and the Kluksdahl Family Reunions and getting to see aunts, uncles and cousins. I remember the big family trip with the travel trailer to Las Vegas and Disneyland. Circus Circus, with its hundreds of video games, was heaven to a 7 year old like me. As I grew older, I enjoyed hunting and fishing with family and friends and camping with family or “tenting” with friends.

Now I enjoy being uncle to my nieces and nephews at our family reunions.

Written by Mark for the 2008 Reunion:

To pick up where my story left off, I must begin shortly after the 1989 reunion. It all began a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away — oops, that is a different story altogether. Anyway, shortly after that reunion, I had a girlfriend who was to become my first wife. Her name is Cindy (you will see a pattern to this later in the story). We had met shortly before the ’80 reunion and were just dating at that time. On the school front, I began to think: “what was the quickest way out of here but doing something with people.” A college friend suggested a company called REM that ran a couple of group homes for people with developmental disabilities in Billings. So in the Fall of 1989, I switched my major to Rehab Counseling with an Extended Major. I graduated from EMC in the winter of 1992 and called REM. It just so happened that the head of the agency knew a Dallas Kluksdahl from North Dakota and she was ecstatic to hire me. This was the first time the Kluksdahl name paid off for me. For the next 10 years, I worked for REM, moving from night staff in Billings to Program Director in Las Vegas.

I married Cindy Cooley in the summer of 1991 and we were married until 1998. We have two wonderful boys, Dustyn and Kasey; we just did not work out. I had moved to Nevada one year prior to our divorce, with REM, but moved back to Billings in the spring of 1999 to be closer to the boys.

I got a job at Youth Services Center in the winter of 1999 and worked there for five years. During that time, I met another girl. Her name was Cindi (I told you there was a pattern to this) and, shortly after the 2002 reunion, we were married (again, another pattern). She has been the true love of my life. She tries to keep me in line and does a pretty good job of it. She is good with the boys and teaches them many things. Our marriage has been quite a ride, but I would not change it for anything!! Cindi and I have a nice place in the country that keeps us busy on the weekends. We enjoy playing pool in a pool league in the winter, but we are mainly homebodies and enjoy the kids when they come to see us. The boys live in Cody and are both in school there. Dusty is going into the eighth grade and Kasey is starting sixth grade. Both are active in sports. They love football, basketball and baseball. As their dad, I cannot express how proud I am of them and try to tell them that as much as I can!! When Cindi and I can, we go down and watch them play.

While at Youth Services Center, I decided that I needed to get back to working with the developmentally disabled and got a job with the State of Montana as a Targeted Case Manager. I did this for two years, then became a Quality Improvement Specialist for the State of Montana. I monitor State contracts between our department and the agencies that contract with us. I also enforce Medicaid rules and our Department ARM’s (Administrative Rules) to make sure the agencies are in compliance.

Anyway, life has been pretty good. I cannot believe where the time has gone. So many of our relatives are no longer with us and the younger generation of our family is busy making the newest generation of recruits to the “Kluksdahl Calvary.” I’ve told my kids many times “do not rush growing up, enjoy your time as a kid.” I have tried to teach them many things, including the art of “Kluksdahl Warfare,” but they are not as good a pupil as I was (perhaps having my life threatened about playing “fakey” helps you to be a good student). I often tried to tell them “when a cannon explodes, you cannot kill an entire army!”; oh, well, it’s just fun to play again. I guess the kid in me has never gone away. Now I have “post nasal drip” and say “huh” and grunt a lot while I work outside in the yard (my kids laugh at me about this — reminds me of working with Dad). I just keep thinking about my youth and how much fun I had and, at times, long for the hot summer days of the past to run and play all day. I wanted to be an adult awful fast until the dreaded word all young adults do not want to hear creeps up and yells “RESPONSIBILITY!!” There are some advantages to growing old, such as wisdom, security, stability and senility (ha, ha), but I think there are many more advantages to being young and having fun. I would give this advice to anyone who reads my story: Do not rush growing up, be a kid as long as you can, enjoy the picnic, because the saying, “use the wet-wipes when you are done” has a whole new meaning when you get older.

It seems the older we get the more need we have to be with our brothers and sisters again. I think this is funny because we cannot stand each other when we we’re younger but need each other more and more the older we get. This must be that “connection” thing or “blood is thicker than water” stuff. Anyway, hope to see all of you as much as we can in the future because you just never know what can happen.

This story is made in part by Donna and Gordon Kluksdahl, to whom I am indebted to for allowing me to walk this earth. Thank you and goodnight!!

A celebration of life will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Friday, Aug. 23, at Homesteaders Park, 760 Railroad Highway in Huntley.