Obituary - Mark Allan Otto

Mark Allan Otto, age 49, died June 24, 2022, in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he resided on his boat for the past three years.

Mark was born in Havre, Montana, September 20, 1972, entering the world with his eyes wide open, a headful of brown hair and a look of inexpressible surprise.

He attended Havre schools before moving to Helena in 1982. He graduated from Capital High School, where he played second trombone and bass guitar.

Mark joined the National Guard and later the U.S. Army, serving in Bad Kreuzsnach, Germany, were he made several lifelong friends. He then was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he developed a system to reorganize and update personnel records. After graduating at the top of his class in Military Intelligence School at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, his last duty station was South Korea. Shortly after leaving the service, he attended art school in San Francisco, CA, but returned to Montana to work in the Information Technology and Customer Service Industry, which led him to Alaska and then Hawaii.

Mark married Roxann Griner of Choteau, MT, in 1994 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and they had a son, Allan Joseph Otto, better known as A.J. Although the couple lived apart for many years, they remained good friends.

Mark was an amateur artist in graphite drawings, an avid reader of speculative fiction and a worldwide Master Gamer. He fulfilled his dreams of living on a boat and being off the grid when he moved to Hawaii. He was exactly where he wanted to be.

Mark is survived by the following in Montana: Roxann Otto and son A.J. Otto of Kalispell; father and stepmother Allan and Cindy Otto of Havre; mother, Nadine Neighbor of Harlowton, sister and brother-in-law Peggy and Tim Racicot of Missoula, brother Derek Oberg of Centralia, WA, and former stepfather Danny Oberg from Mérida, Yucatán.

Services for Mark's interment will be held at Fort Harrison in Helena starting at 2:00 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9, 2022, with military honors. A reception will follow at the Staggering Ox at 3:00 p.m.