Mark Lindquist

(From Ozark Funeral Home)

Mark Alan Lindquist passed gently from this world on July 4, 2023, in Bentonville, Arkansas, after battling cancer. Mark was born in Redding, California on December 11, 1959. 

When Mark was young, his family moved to Powell Missouri, and though he lived in other places during his lifetime, Mark called the Ozarks home. 

Mark was the owner of Southwest City Milling Company in Southwest City, MO, and was later employed by Community Support Services in Joplin, MO, where he found his “calling” serving others.

Mark has one son, Creed Lindquist, Southwest City, MO & Rogers, AR, with his former wife, Kristy Spillers. Creed was the pride of Mark’s life and a most cherished son and friend. After 30 years, Mark reunited with Carolyn Stephenson McKinlay, completing a touching love story which had begun in Montana in the late 1970s. Mark has four stepchildren with Carolyn: Adam McKinlay, Great Falls, MT, Clinton McKinlay (Sami), Great Falls, MT, Tessa McKinlay, Harrison, AR, and Myles McKinlay (Jeana), Great Falls, MT, ten step grandchildren, many nieces and nephews, and extended family, and friends. Mark’s kind and engaging personality made him an easy person to know and adore. He always smiled from his soul.

Mark was preceded in death by his father, William Lindquist, mother, Velma Beaver Lindquist, brother-in-law, Roger Crosswhite, sister, Vehrlene Crosswhite, and nephew, Todd Crosswhite. Survivors include his wife, Carolyn Stephenson McKinlay Lindquist of the home; son, Creed Lindquist, from Southwest City, MO & Rogers, AR; sisters, Linda Baldwin (Bill Cearnal) from Joplin, MO, Keith Lindquist (Norma), Southwest City, MO, and Janie Lindquist (David Mott), from Marble Falls, AR.

Mark was a gifted and multi-talented athlete. He played basketball at McDonald County High School where he graduated in 1978. He was the first McDonald County High School graduate to receive a baseball scholarship, which took him to Midamerica Nazarene University in Olathe, KS, following high school. 

As an adult, Mark was an avid golfer and played for the Miller Ponies Baseball Team from Bentonville as a standout and valued team member for several years. Mark loved to fish, hike, and marvel in Nature’s quiet moments of blessing and peace. He was an outdoorsman with a deep love for animals. He and Carolyn also fed feral cats in Southwest City daily for twelve years and they devotedly rehomed over 150 cats. Mark was the first to rescue injured animals, help turtles crossroads, and turn his car around to marvel in the glory of a field of wildflowers.

Mark’s other “work of heart” was with developmentally disabled adults, and he loved and was proud of his work with these exceptional people, who Mark said changed his life profoundly and forever. On May 22, 2011, Mark was a survivor of the Joplin, Missouri, tornado, during which catastrophe he lost all his beloved clients. When he learned of their demise months later, Mark was devastated. For the remainder of his time on Earth, Mark bereaved the loss of “his boys,” for whom he laid down his life attempting to save them.

During the tornado, Mark’s body was thrown a city block and he was discovered under a pile of rubble. When Mark was retrieved from the wreckage, his body was decimated. He was a “John Doe” in an area hospital for three days prior to being identified by a family member. Mark was comatose for 7 weeks before awakening to the face of his beloved sweetheart who Mark had met in Montana nearly thirty years prior, and on November 22, 2011, Mark and his adored Carolyn married and enjoyed 12 wonderful years together. Although Mark suffered a multitude of injuries which daily caused him continuous pain, Mark “carried on.”

Mark’s tornado experience remains a lasting example of unbending will and persistence in the face of adversity and have given joy and hope to thousands of people throughout the world. Mark’s story was followed internationally and his witness has remained uplifting to others in times of devastation and loss. He received awards and recognition for dauntless courage. Mark was a humble warrior-servant who put others before himself in times of dire need and in 2012, Mark was named one of the “50 Missourians You Need to Know.”

Mark was a charismatic man whose smile and interest won hearts and melded lasting, treasured friendships. He was gentle, kind, generous, a team player, and affectionate. Mark was competitive, appreciative, humorous, and charming. He was a loyal family member, a sweet, affable, clever, and powerful person who never gave up in the most harrowing circumstances. We have been blessed to have known him and Mark’s memory will forever live within us. Some coming 4th of July, when grief begins to lose its sharp edges, we will celebrate his life as fireworks illuminate the sky. We can gaze upward and know Mark is grinning down from Heaven at us in return—what a perfect way to honor and remember this extraordinary man. Until we see him once again, may Mark walk and fish beside the still waters of Heaven, catch every fly ball, all golf shots be hole-in-ones, and forever bask in the presence of his family, friends, and animals who rejoice in perfect peace and health with Him over On the Other Shore.

Visitation is at 10:00 a.m. and the Funeral Service is at 11:00 a.m. at First Baptist Church in Southwest City, Missouri, on Monday, July 10, 2023. Interment is at Cowan Cemetery, near Powell, MO. Following the burial all are invited to the First Baptist Church in Pineville for a meal and fellowship with the family.

Pallbearers include Mike Byers, Randy Chandler, John Coffee, Rick Hall, Keith Lindquist, Tessa McKinlay, Kevin McNally, and David Mott. Honorary Pallbearers are Todd Dahlin, Tom Hottinger, Calvin Kernell, Myles McKinlay, Roger O’Brien, and Kent Weeks.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Circle of Life Hospice, 1201 NE Legacy Parkway, Bentonville, AR, 72712. Arrangements are under the direction of the Ozark Funeral Home in Anderson, Missouri.