Mark Raymond Arnold

A Memorial Mass will be held at 12:00 p.m., Saturday, February 4, 2023, at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Crowley for Mark Raymond Arnold, 67, who died on January 30, 2023, surrounded by his loving family in Crowley, Louisiana.

Fr. Mikel Polson, pastor of St. Michael, will officiate. The family requests visiting hours to be held at the Church from 11:00 a.m. until the time of Mass at 12:00 p.m. Mark donated his body to the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, and there will be a celebration of life immediately after Mass at the St. Michael Church Hall.

Mark was born on July 12, 1955, in Ringgold, Louisiana to Rev. Tracy Raymond Arnold and Ganuie Sue Weaver Arnold. He grew up in Abbeville, attending Abbeville High School until moving to Crowley and graduating from Crowley High School in 1973. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Agronomy from Louisiana State University in 1976 and married his college sweetheart and loving wife of 46 years, Deborah Ortego Arnold, the same year. After a few years in Riviana Foods, Inc.'s corporate office in Houston, Texas, Mark and Debbie returned to Crowley, where they raised their three sons and attended St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church. Mark served in the St. Michael Mixed and Men's Choirs. Over the next 40 years, Mark worked with countless members of this community from his early days at Riviana, then Cajun Bag & Supply Co., and finally as an owner of J&M Industries, Inc. He dutifully maintained those friendships even after retiring in 2016.

Mark was connected to the land from his younger days on a family cotton farm, as a tree farmer as an adult, and professionally in agricultural sales and packaging. He had lifelong friendships dating back to his LSU Agriculture days, and he ensured his sons worked for local farmers as teenagers.

Mark was most known for his love for people; he valued the power of community and connection with others. Mark spread his fellowship in the outdoors throughout North America, and his particular favorites were fishing in Louisiana, Canada and Alaska, deer hunting in the Texas Hill Country, and bird hunting in the Midwest, the East Coast, and South Louisiana. Most importantly, he shared this gift with his three sons and his grandchildren. "Pops" deliberately prioritized spiritual and reflective time outdoors with his family and friends as his father had done with him.

Mark also believed humor to be one God's greatest gifts for forming personal bonds, holding court with jokes and storytelling. His best performances involved elaborate pranks on his friends and coworkers, rewarded by the howls of those in close company.

He is survived by his wife, Deborah Ortego Arnold, of Crowley; two sons, Nicholas and his wife Robin of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Patrick and his wife Alice of Charleston, South Carolina; his sister, Michelle and her husband Darron King of Denham Springs, Louisiana; and eight grandchildren, Eleanor, Cecilia, Luke, Henry, Vivian, Claire, Nolan, and Virginia Arnold.

Mark is preceded in death by his parents, Sue and Tracy Arnold, and his oldest son, Matthew Raymond Arnold.

Honorary Pallbearers will be Rusty Freeland, Andrew Arnold, Charley Steen, Marty Semmes, Jules Broussard, Ricky Broussard, Burleigh Doga, and Billy Prather.

Mark's family offers their sincerest gratitude to everyone who offered up sympathies and prayers during this difficult time and to those who visited Mark during his progressive illness. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Association of Frontotemporal Degeneration.