A UNIQUE REUNION After 30 Years

Mark in the Antiwar Movement

Mark stayed at the university for a few semesters after Dennis left but then decided that he didn't want to become a part of the system that was supporting the war.  So he went back to Buffalo, where he worked for awhile as a foreman at a steel plant.  Still dissatisfied  with the war effort, he quit his job, bought a motorcycle, and traveled across the country to San Francisco, California. Although they didn't realize it then, Dennis and Mark were in San Francisco for awhile at the same time. 

Like Dennis, Mark grew a beard and long hair and began using Marijuana.  But Mark was heavily involved in the antiwar movement, participating in protests and marches. He was wanted by the FBI for draft evasion, so for a few years he used aliases to escape detection.  He pursued a hippie life-style in San Francisco.  There, in 1970, two of Jehovah's Witnesses came to his door.

Mark explains: "They must have felt that I showed some interest, so they returned. I wasn't home, but they left a green Bible and three books."  Mark, however, was too absorbed in political activism and in having a good time to read them. Also, he was closely pursued by the FBI. So under another alias, he moved to Washington, D.C.  His girlfriend Kathi Yanikivis, whom he had met at the university, joined him there.

Finally, in 1971, the FBI caught up  with Mark.  two FBI agents escorted him on a flight from Washington D.C., to New York and made sure that he continued on to Toronto Canada.  Evidently, the FBI didn't consider him a threat to civil order; they just wanted him out of the country.  The following year Kathi and he were married, and the moved to British Columbia, Canada.  They wanted to escape from society, yet they felt there had to be more to life. 

Next time:  A UNIQUE REUNION After 30 Years - They Became Witnesses

From the Awake! magazine, 2002