Mark Hortman remembered by loved ones for his enthusiasm, easy-going nature

A year later, the people who loved Mark Hortman still find themselves returning to certain moments.

For his son, Colin Hortman, one of them happened on a mountain bike trail north of Duluth.

"Unprompted, my dad was like, 'You know, one of the reasons I love mountain biking so much?' And I'm like, 'No, why?' And he's like, 'Because you can go so much further than you could into nature than you could on a walk.'" Colin Hortman said.

A simple observation capturing how Mark Hortman lived his life as a curious explorer eager to see what was around the next corner. Family and friends remember a man whose enthusiasm for life left an imprint on everyone around him.

"I only heard Mark yell once in his life," J. Carroll Hortman, Mark's father, said.

The one and only time anyone can recall Mark Hortman raising his voice involved a young Colin Hortman carrying a cellphone into the ocean.

"He had to get my attention because I was couple hundred yards away, so was he actually yelling, or was he just trying to get my attention, you know," Colin Hortman said.

That sounds more like the Mark Hortman everyone knew: An easy-going but dynamic man whose life revolved around his family.

"He is the most genuine person I've ever met in my life. Mark was really one of those people who had a positive outlook on life. You know, you'd ask him, 'How you doing, Mark?' and he'd say 'Great' and he'd mean it," Ross Bennett, a close friend of Mark Hortman's, said.

Long before he became a husband, father and friend, he was a kid growing up in Raleigh, North Carolina.

"He always wanted to find a faster way to do something," J. Carroll Hortman said.

Which he did when his dad brought home an early Xerox computer.

"He jumped on that thing and started writing programs," J. Carroll Hortman added.

His interest in computers, physics and robots led him to NC State and the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.

After graduating, he worked for IBM in Maryland while Melissa Hortman interned in Washington, D.C. They met when both signed up to volunteer as mentors at a local school and were matched to the same student.

They were engaged three months later. 

"He never brought a girl home. She was the first one," J. Carroll Hortman said. "She fit right into our family immediately."

They got married in 1993. From that point on, friends and family describe them as a single joyful current.

When Melissa Hortman was away for legislative work, Mark Hortman took on many different hobbies. He enjoyed mountain biking, brewing beer, drinking whiskey, cooking, music and playing pool.

"Mark was a very interested, active pool player," Ross Bennett said.

Bennett was on two billiards teams with Mark Hortman. They also played cards and went to sporting events together.

"The last time Mark and I played was right here. I was working with him for a couple hours before leagues on his just his strategy and his stuff like that," Bennett said.

With Mark and Melissa Hortman, friends like Bennett became family.

"They were just a really delightful couple. We had a lot of fun together and I would say, of the four of us, Mark was the biggest optimist," Robin Ann Williams, a close friend of the Hortmans, said.

Robin Ann and Paul Williams say there was nothing formal about their friendships. They often enjoyed dining and traveling together.

"They opened the door, never knocked or ringed the bell. They just come in, and they always brought their slippers," Robin Ann Williams said.

Others found themselves drawn into that sense of ease.

"It was just like literally falling off a log to get along with them, so I don't know if that's just personal chemistry or if it's a testament to who they were, but it was always easy and enjoyable," Paul Williams said.

For Colin Hortman, some of the most meaningful memories are the ordinary ones.

"It's the family home stuff: playing pool in the basement, playing Golf Links on the original X-Box in the basement with my uncle in North Carolina, my uncle Lee," he said.

Moments now priceless, with one cross-country road trip standing out above the others.

"When he drove me back from California, he flew his mountain bike out and we threw it in the car and had all of our stuff up top. The views that we had on that trip and just like the bonding that him and I did was really incredible. Not that we needed to be any closer, we already were," Colin Hortman said.

What remains is the shape of a life that continues to echo through others.

"I don't think he had any regrets at all in his life. I think he did what he wanted to do, married the perfect woman for him, had great kids and had fun," Bennett said.

"I have tried very hard to make time for friends because you don't realize that you won't always have that time," Robin Ann William said. I want to continue to embrace my friends the way that Mark embraced me as a friend."

And an absence that lingers.

"He was just such a great dad to us and I think that's the hardest part for me: losing my perfect dad," Colin Hortman said.

"I know that there's a hole in our family," J. Carroll Hortman said. "The hole will be there forever."