Mark L. Van Lent

Mark L. Van Lent, 59, of Nora Springs, passed away on Monday, August 24, 2026, at his home surrounded by family. A funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, August 29, 2026, at Faith Baptist Church, 1807 Kentucky Ave. Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, August 28, 2026, at Major Erickson Funeral Home, 111 N Pennsylvania Ave, with Pastor Tim Moore officiating. Interment will be held at Park Cemetery, Nora Springs.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (themmrf.org) or Mayo Clinic (give.mayoclinic.org).

To watch Mark's service live, click here: Funeral Service of Mark Van Lent

Mark was born on October 16, 1966 in Mason City, Iowa to Theophil and Rozena (Theis) Van Lent. Mark was the only boy of 5 children. He was a 1985 graduate of Mason City High School, participated in football, and excelled at baseball. Mark held the Triples record and RBI record for 20 years and later played at NIACC. He once struck out 17 batters pitching and loved being on the baseball field with his friends. He later coached baseball, softball, and basketball for Josh and Anna.

After NIACC, he graduated from Iowa State University earning a computer science degree. He worked for Principal Financial Group in Des Moines for 12 years. The family then moved to the Mason City area where Mark worked for 12 years as a software engineer for TeamQuest in Clear Lake. He finished his career working for Curries as a programmer analyst for 10 years.

Mark enjoyed spending his time watching any sports game he could find and making people laugh. He loved fishing trips, golfing with friends and attending Iowa State football games. He liked to play card games and change the rules on the fly to get a laugh. There was never a dull moment with Mark around.

Mark spent the last 7 1/2 years of his life battling multiple myeloma cancer. At the beginning, he didn’t understand why the Lord put him through this. Later, he came to understand that it made him love one another more and appreciate how one needs to love each other with all your heart and value relationships. He also thought it helped him to trust in God’s will, that He knows best and not to question Him. God is a great God, and Mark's hope was always to spread the good news of Jesus Christ as our Savior who died for our sins so that we can have eternal salvation.

For 17 months before he died, Mark was thrilled to have time to hold and adore his beautiful granddaughter Violet.

Mark was also especially indebted to his parents-in-law who were able to get him to his Rochester appointments routinely when his wife was unable.

Those left to cherish his memories are: his wife of 36 years, Annette; his son, Josh (Lexie); his daughter, Anna (Tavin Despenas); one granddaughter, Violet Van Lent. His mother: Rozena Van Lent; his parents-in-law: Harold and Sandy Pippert. His siblings: Lisa (Dave) Ebel, Julie (Don) Caspers, Vicki (Myron) Schluter, and Rich Schuckman. His siblings-in-law: Heather (Mark) Mathre, Jason (Angie) Pippert, Jennifer (Thad) Stiles.

Mark also had many nieces and nephews who are left to remember him. Todd (Julie) Caspers, Heather Caspers, Derek (Kristin) Ebel, Dalton (Amy) Ebel, Rachel (Aaron) Lock, Matt (Melanie) Schluter, Jared Schuckman, Tasha Schuckman, Erik (Sadee) Mathre, Lindsay (Colton) Hansen, Ella Pippert, Abby Pippert, Jill Pippert, Will Fingalsen, James Fingalsen and Andrew Fingalsen.

Mark also had 5 great nieces, 2 great nephews and one on the way, as well as many other extended family members. His high school friend group that were like brothers: Jim Udelhofen, Joe DeRock, Mike Smith, Steve Stokesbary, Eric Losen and John Heyer.

Mark was preceded in death by his father, Theophil (Ted) Van Lent, his sister Dina Schuckman and his nephew Barak Fingalsen.