David Mark Lee

David Mark Lee was born November 21, 1958, in Caliente Nevada, and immediately adopted by Parley Grant Lee and Phyllis Minirva Blad Lee.

Grant and Phyllis took Mark home to their “Ranch” located about five mile south of Panaca, Nevada where they lived with older brother Rollin Kim Lee, age 11.

Grant and Phyllis raised black Angus cattle, farmed about 350 acres of alfalfa, and operated a wholesale milk route.

Mark spend countless hours exploring the hills and creeks around the ranch, watching his mother creating ceramics, cooking, decorating wedding cakes and sewing wedding dresses for folks in the valley. He actually got involved with her hobbies and would participate in projects. He also spent time with his brother working on bicycles and motorcycles and was a great help to his father on the ranch feeding cattle and lambs and doing anything his father needed, he was driving tractors and operating equipment at a very early age.

After his father died in 1971, Mark and his mother moved to Panaca after selling the ranch.

Mark attended grade school and high school in Panaca and then went to Utah Technical School in Provo Utah to learn the Body and Paint trade. After a year in Provo, he married his high school sweetheart Patty Fradelle from Pioche Nevada, they moved to Jeffery City Wyoming where he learned the drilling and blasting trade while working in the Uranium mine. After several years, the mine was closed. At this time, Mark and Patty moved to Winnemucca Nevada and he began working for the Pinson Mining Company. While in Winnemucca Mark and Patties family grew with two precious little girls joining them, Danyelle and Ashley. During Mark’s 25 years at Pinson, he received an award for 20 continuous years of perfect attendance, the only employee to ever achieve this award!

Mark enjoyed living in Winnemucca, he loved to fish and took his nephews out fishing several times during their visits.

One of the saddest days he ever talked about was the morning he and his crew rolled up to the Pinson gate and found it locked with a note stating that they were closed and their last paycheck would be mailed to them.

Mark then went to work for a new company in Winnemucca that manufactured Plastic pipe and Polyethylene pipe, he learned the new craft quickly and became a quality control inspector.

Somewhere in the time period, Mark and Patty divorced.

After a few years at the pipe manufacturing firm, Mark decided to return to Panaca and get back to drilling and blasting. He worked for Burt Cox several years before hanging his blasting license up. He lived in the very home that his mother purchased after his father passed, He shared the home with his nephew Christoper until his death in 2007, he and Christopher became fast friends and enjoyed being together.

Mark opened a home-based business repairing chain saws, lawn mowers and other small engine equipment. He really enjoyed being at home instead of traveling around the country from drilling job to drilling job. During this time, he met and married Norma Jean Jones who was the light of his life, they enjoyed camping and remained best friends till the end.

Mark enjoyed traveling with his brother around the West to drag racing events and was a tremendous asset during the races.

Marks girls went on after high school to attend medical school, Danyelle became a board certified OGBYN doctor and practices in Reno Nevada, Ashley has her Master’s Degree in Physical Therapy and is licensed, also practicing in the Reno area.

Mark loved his girls more than anything, he was so very proud of their accomplishments, He admitted to me a few days before he passed… “I should have listened to his girls, after all, they are doctors”

Mark became ill some 10 months ago and battled cancer at home until he chose to move onward and upward on September 19, 2025.

Just days before his passing, his nephew Logan Lee (Eric Lees Son) came to visit “Unkle Mark” they spent an hour discussing Logans craft of drilling and blasting, the same occupation that Mark spent most of his life doing, Logan was mesmerized with the stories of Marks adventures, near misses and wild stories while drilling, Mark seemed to love knowing Logan was following in his footsteps, it seemed to be a bright spot for Mark in his last days

When I think of Mark, there are a few words that sum up who he was: Dedicated, Incredible Work Ethic, Unstoppable in the face of obstacles, Stubborn, Really Stubborn, Very Giving, and a great Friend.

The “very giving” was exemplified in the several times he allowed people who were in a jam, to live with him. On one occasion, a Mom and Dad and two kids lived with him for a few months while they worked things out.

Mark will be missed by lots of family and friends.

He is survived by his Wife, Norma Jean Jones, his daughters, Ashley Lee, Dannyelle Lee Myers, and his brother, Kim.

A graveside service will be held on Saturday, October 4, 2025 at 11:00 am at the Panaca Cemetery, under the direction of Southern Nevada Mortuary. To send condolences online, please visit www.southernnevadamortuary.com.