Remembering Marc - The Dehaven Drive Years

Thank you so much to Peggy Schlossman for her submission. Peggy's story of Marc will be the first entry to be placed in the book of Marc (not the Bible book but the Elkan book).

Read below and enjoy. Remember, please send your stories ASAP to benjaminneedle@gmail.com so they can be shared with all!!



DE HAVEN DRIVE YEARS- by Peggy Schlossman


When Marc graduated from Oswego, Mindy and Marc moved to Yonkers as a young, married couple. They lived in a 2-bedroom apartment on 110 De Haven Drive. I lived with my parents three buildings away and often visited the newlyweds on my way home from the bus after work. Marc would make me a drink and I often ate dinner with them.

Everybody knows about the huge fish that Marc caught years ago that hangs over the couch in the Elkan living room. When Michelle was born, I would go very often to visit her. Marc loved to joke around with me and this huge fish was lying on the floor before it was hung up. Marc used to make me kiss the fish on the floor before he would let me hold and play with Michelle.

When Gary and I got married in 1980, we lived in the apartment building next to Mindy and Marc (110 De Haven Drive). When Marisa was born during a very heavy blizzard on February 12, 1983 we first panicked how we were going to drive to the hospital—our car was snowed in!! Gary called Marc to help push the car out of the spot. The next day it was impossible to drive anywhere due to the huge amounts of snow. Gary and I were alone in the hospital – Mindy was pregnant with Scott and couldn’t walk up the huge hill to visit, my parents had really bad colds and couldn’t make it out of the house. But Marc trudged through the snow by foot to come see our pride and joy!!!

Marisa was one of the many lucky recipients of Marc’s “motor mouse” which was also a favorite to Michelle, Scott and I’m sure Alexis, Dassie and Max. Gary, Marisa and I moved to a condo on De Haven Drive and to my delight, the Elkans moved right next door to us soon after that. We obviously saw them every day and Marc would often take Marisa out to play with Michelle and Scott in the snow, ride tricycles in the driveway and grill us dinner when Gary was working.

The Elkans moved to Georgia and we moved to New Jersey in 1990. We had quite a crying fest in the parking lot when their moving truck pulled away with Marc driving his beloved grey Integra (that car grew very old in Marc’s garage). Though we all moved on with our lives, and from a distance shared each others joys and sorrows- those De Haven Drive years will always be the most precious and memorable to me!!!

Pints for Pints a Success!!

Thanks to all who made the first ever PINTS FOR PINTS a success. We had 21 pints of blood donated! Collectively, we saved up to 63 lives! We had only one person just about pass out (Michelle)but she has already committed to going back for another donation next time (of platelets this time).
This was a great tribute to Marc!
We look forward to the next opportunity to give blood. For those of us who gave this past Sunday, we can give again at the beginning of the year.

Below are the participants from this past weekend
Debbie and Mark Isbitts
Cherly and Jeff Eagle
Alan Sussman (in town from Charlotte)
Sue Heavlin
Stacey and Dave Chandler
Karen and Hank Needle
Lizz Kramer
Jaime Davies
Lauren Gray - Platelets and Blood!!
Terry Kaplan
Anna Needle
Scott Elkan
Michelle and Ben Needle
Jeff Unger
Diane Schatzman
Jeanette and Mike Prather
Carol and Fred Salmons (moral support)

Planning to Give soon!!
Lori Cahill
Barb Kay

Story Updates
When you get a chance, please send favorite story about Marc. Ideas for topics can be found in the "Tuesday, October 21, 2008" Blog post. Just send one by clicking on the post OR send it to benjaminneedle@gmail.com and we will post it.

Book Recommendations
With the holidays approaching, if you have any book, CD, or DVD suggestions, just let us know by commenting on a post and we will post it to the blog. All items ordered through amazon.com via this blog generate a percentage to be placed in the Marc Elkan Memorial Fund.

How to Remeber Marc

The idea is simple...
Biography!
Most of us could write our own autobiography but sadly Marc cannot.
So...let's write his biography!

Step 1: Select one of the categories below
Early Years
Grade School through High School
Extracurricular Activities (life in New York City)
The College Years at Oswego
Early Married Life
Marc & Mindy
Life With Young Michelle and Scott
Family Fun
Dehaven Drive Years
Early Atlanta
Carriage Lakes
Cobb County Schools
University of Georgia
AT & T
Bearing Point
Vacationing With Marc
Opa Marc
Hanging Out
The Songs of Marc Elkan
The Jokes of Marc Elkan
Funny Things I heard Marc say
Funny Things I saw Marc do

Step 2:
Type your story in a WORD DOCUMENT using the titles below.
Save this file as “YOUR STORY TITLE – Your Name”

Step 3:
Email your story to benjaminneedle@gmail.com

Step 4:
Look for your story to be posted on www.marcthemountainman.com


Story Category: _______________________________________________
Story Title (Optional): _________________________________________

Begin typing here:

PINTS for PINTS

Some time in the coming weeks we will, if anyone is interested, hold our first pints for pints at the Marietta Red Cross Blood Donation Center and Wild Wings.

HERE IS HOW Pints for Pints Came to be:
Years ago, Marc along with many other members of the community decided to give a blood sample in an attempt to match our alleles with a young lady with leukemia to give bone marrow. Unfortunately, none of us were a match. Two good things came out of the experience though.

1) Years later, my mother able to match someone in Jacksonville and help to prolong his life

2) Michelle and everyone else who was watching got to see me nearly puke/pass out from giving a thimble of blood.

WHo was there to rescue me? My father-in-law MARC.

After about 7 years, I worked up the nerve to give blood with my sworn protector, Marc. We went to the Blood center and after about 30 minutes of paperwork and questions (some very funny to me) I was giving blood.

This was also a great opportunity for me to see Marc in his element. I had the honor of witnessing his ability to make friends with complete strangers in the funniest way.

After Marc's passing, we were thinking of where he would want charitable donations to go. One thought was the Red Cross. This idea was tabled as we wanted to pick a place where the dollar would go far. HOWEVER, BLOOD IS IN SHORT SUPPLY for the Red Cross and I thought this would be a great tribute to Marc

SO HERE IS THE DEAL/PROCEDURE.

1)Post a comment here saying "I'm in to donate" or "I'm in it for moral support/beer"

2) Tell me which day will work best for you and leave an email

3) Check the blog (post your favorite story about Marc in the mean time

4) DONATION DAY: Come prepared

5) GIVE a PINT

6) Have Nutter Butters

7) Walk over to Wild Wing and HAVE A PINT

PS - I AM NOT AFRAID TO ADMIT THAT I AM A CHICKEN AND SQUEAMISH. HOWEVER, I DECIDED TO GIVE IT A TRY AND IT WAS NO PROBLEM.

You shouldn't be afraid of a little prick!

In the beginning...

In the beginning, there was Marc. Marc Elkan at the observation deck of Mt. Ranier in Washington State. The crisp mountain air was warm with the summer's breeze yet the cap of this majestic mountain still stood covered in snow. As the gang of adventurous southerners meandered along the paths adjacent to the flowing mountain streams, Marc was overcome with emotion. He, in this moment, decided that it was time for an alternate identity to emerge from deep within his soul. Just as a butterfly emerges from its cocoon, Marc morphed from a mild mannered process analyst into something that no one was prepared to see. Marc, before all who were present, both friend and stranger, shucked off his shirt as a husk from corn, exposing his his glorious physique. From that moment on, he would be remembered as...THE MOUNTAIN MAN.

This online forum should serve as an opportunity for you to post your favorite stories and pictures of Marc.

(PS - If you have a picture of this event, please send it to ME!)