Mark Clark watches balloons disappear into the sky with his son Chase, 6 on Thursday afternoon. The balloons were released at Fremont Elementary School as part of a celebration of life for his older son Marcus, 8, who died Feb. 6 from an asthma attack. Photo by Rick Gunn
Since third-grader Marcus Clark died of an asthma attack Feb. 6, a red stuffed bulldog -- with big eyes just like Marcus -- has been sitting in his chair.
But today the stuffed animal will be sitting against the wall and Marcus' desk will have been cleaned out.
"We're not saying good-bye, but we're putting closure on it," said his teacher Debbie Mariskanish, half of a teaching team with Betty Gardner. "He'll always be in our hearts and in our heads."
Classmates wrote messages on construction-paper hearts, then tied them to balloons and, as a group, released them into the sky from the Fremont Elementary School playground Thursday afternoon.
"When you release your balloon, you release your own hopes, dreams and thoughts," Principal Jan Sullivan said. "They will rise up just like Marcus did."
The students also used the time to remember Marcus.
"He was my friend," said Brent Moyle, 9. "He played soccer with me and he was nice to me."
On his balloon, Brent wrote: "I wish you were still here Marcus."
Marcus' father, Mark Clark, held hands with his younger son, Chase, 6, and the two released their balloon together.
Clark has visited the classroom numerous times since his son's death to talk to his son's friends and classmates, answering any questions.
"I feel they need to know it's a part of life," Clark said. "I want them to keep going forward. God works in mysterious ways."
School counselor Nan Oleson remembered how Marcus was a friend to all children and was quick to make up after a quarrel.
Sisters Ashley and Alex Kula, both 10, used to spend the first recess with Marcus. They recalled how he would want to play football with the fifth-grade boys, who were much bigger than Marcus -- the smallest in his third-grade class.
Alex said he would complain to her when they wouldn't let him play.
"I always told him they just didn't want to hurt him because he was too small," she said. "But sometimes they would quit playing their game just to play catch with him."
And he never held a grudge.
"He was really nice," Ashley remembered. "He would always forgive."
The children also made a memory book to give to Marcus' family, remembering his smile, the times he made them laugh and how he used to bring lizards into class that he'd caught in his back yard.
"They made the cutest pictures where they'd have Marcus on a cloud and God up above," Gardner said. "Their pictures were straight from the heart."
Grandparents Jim and Kaaron Clark also attended the celebration where they passed around the Olympic torch Marcus carried with family friend Mike Curtis.
"They also passed around a school picture of the 8-year-old boy with big eyes and neatly-combed hair.
"He always looked handsome with his hair always the same way," remembered classmate Darcy Clark, 8.
A scholarship is being set up in memory of Marcus.