Mark Andrew Wiggins

MARK ANDREW WIGGINS June 28, 1964 – February 11, 2023 Mark Andrew Wiggins passed away February 11, 2023 in Sylmar, California. He was born June 28, 1964 to parents Walter and Maureen Wiggins in Los Angeles, California. Mark grew up with his family and siblings in Hollywood, Burbank, and North Hollywood before his parents finally settled in Lake View Terrace. Mark attended Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Catholic elementary school in Sun Valley, California, and thereafter Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California. Mark married early – – he was but 18 years – – and he and his wife Linda had four children together (Mark, Jr., Kelli, Kristy and Sandi). Mark’s first marriage ended after several years and he subsequently met and married Jackie, with whom he had two sons, Christopher and Dalton. Mark and Jackie (with whom he shared a birth date) knew they wanted to spend their lives together and were happily married for almost 17 years. Mark supported his family by managing a commercial debt recovery firm, Thomas Richards & Co., for several years, and then subsequently engaged in the same kind of work at firms in Woodland Hills and Canoga Park. However, Mark’s passion was no doubt his music. Mark knew from early childhood that he loved and wanted to play the drums. He let it be known at approximately the age of five or six that he wanted a drum set from Santa Claus at Christmas, and his dear Aunt Betty, his mother Maureen’s sister, happily obliged. In high school at Notre Dame, Mark became acquainted with the word “Nirvana” and its meaning, and decided this would be a great name for the band he formed with his younger brother Erik. Together he, Erik, cousin Bert and friend Rick ultimately would constitute L.A.’s own original “Nirvana”, and they played extensively throughout Los Angeles County during the 1980’s and 90’s. Nirvana received accolades and write-ups in numerous trade magazines in the United States and Canada before the grunge group Nirvana from Seattle, Washington (Kurt Cobain, et al. ) came on the scene. Mark’s Nirvana and Cobain’s Nirvana settled trademark disputes amicably in Federal Court in Los Angeles in 1991. Anyone who had the great fortune of meeting and knowing Mark Wiggins was no doubt immediately impressed by his intense energy, wonderful sense of humor, and deeply loving and passionate interior masked at times by a more gruff exterior. As do we all, Mark encountered struggles and challenges in this life; part of his journey in confronting these challenges was his willingness to personally interact with, encourage and counsel many others through their own life challenges. Mark truly comforted and uplifted many who were at their most vulnerable and hopeless. If there is anything more beautiful to do in this life, it is hard to discern. Mark was also a thinker. He engaged siblings and others in profound philosophical conversations on the nature of humanity, our World and Universe, and God Himself. His insight and thinking were often startling in their novelty and thoughtfulness -- and woe to the interlocutor who engaged Mark in political conversation! Mark was generous and tender; Mark was a giver; Mark was energetically passionate and loved and cared deeply. Therefore, Mark’s too-brief life was enormously consequential. Mark, your family and numerous friends are shaken and saddened by your passing, and we will hold you close to our hearts and carry you in our memory always. We are enormously proud to call you son, brother, uncle, father and grandfather. You have left us all reeling by your loss because you were loved beyond measure. May God grant you swift entrance into His Kingdom. Pray for us as we do for you. May you rest in peace.

Tributes

Mark Andrew Wiggins

June 28, 1964 - February 11, 2023