KansasFest alumna Anne Giselle Marks shared some sad news today:

My greatly beloved husband Stanley passed away this morning after a massive heart attack. It was completely unexpected, as there had been absolutely no warning signs. He will be sorely missed by me, his son Ian, daughters Evelyn Marks Johnson, Kathryn Marks Bohannon, and Rachel Marks, granddaughters Darbie Elizabeth Woods and Samantha, and his mom Elsie Marks.

Funeral arrangements for Stanley are as follows:

Visitation will be on Tuesday, April 24, 10-11 am, with memorial service following at 11 am at Ellisville Funeral Home, 1204 Avenue B, Ellisville, MS 39437. The obituary will be posted on their Web site.

Donations to the Boy Scouts of America, Pine Burr Area Council, are requested in lieu of flowers.

Born February 15, 1952, Stan Marks graduated from college with a degree in music education. When he wasn’t teaching, he was an active member of many of the Apple II’s online communities, with tales of his stewardship preceding him. At Stan’s first KansasFest in 1997, Joe Kohn “expressed incredulity at being in the presence of someone who had purchased some two dozen Apple IIes in a school liquidation auction,” Stan later wrote. “I was even more incredulous at being in the presence of an Apple II ‘living legend’!” It was not unusual for Stan to pull out a guitar and serenade his fellow geeks with tunes of growing up on the Mississippi Delta. His affability and willingness to help earned him a seat on the event’s planning committee, where he helped organize KansasFests 1998–2001.

Stan Marks

At KansasFest 1999, Stan met Giselle Schnaubelt, an international attendee representing Austria. The two Apple II users hit it off and committed themselves to each other, despite the geographic distance. Giselle moved to Mississippi, and the two married on January 4, 2003. They attended KansasFest 2003 to announce a new generation of Apple II user; a few months later, their son Ian was born on January 29, 2004, with the new family attending their last KansasFest later that summer. A year later, they were quick to let the KansasFest community know that they had survived Hurricane Katrina and were safe and well.

Stan was 60 when he passed and had touched many people in his life. As he described himself on Facebook: “I am a retired high school band director who decided that 30 years of hard-headed, hyperactive, hormonal teenagers was enough for me!” We know his students will miss him as much as we do. The KansasFest community extends its condolences to Giselle, Ian, and the rest of the Marks family on their loss.