Not Really Silver

It’s not really silver…It’s just painted that way!

To understand the title of this post, you have to know about the silver pickup. It was our first pickup, which would later become the first work truck for our pest control business. But where the silver pickup became famous was actually in Sunday School.We spent quite a few years teaching Sunday school at one of our church’s small branch works across town. We gave out “Marco Bucks” as prizes to our class (12 years old and up) to avoid handing out candies inside the church. Mark would always say, “We thought about giving you hundred dollar bills, but we knew you would rather have Marco Bucks instead,” which invariably met with groans from the “audience”.At the end of class he would direct the students to meet me outside by the silver pickup, to which he would add, “It’s not really silver, it’s just painted that way!” So the kids would line up and trade in their Marco Bucks for candies before they got on the Sunday school bus to go home. It got to the point where whenever Mark would mention the silver pickup, he would say “It’s not really silver, it’s just…” and then hold the microphone out toward the class, and they would all shout “Painted that way!”Sometimes the older students were given the job of handing out the prizes (in this case red licorice) and collecting the Marco Bucks.Waving goodbye to the kids!A teenage Carlos takes care of business next to the silver pickup.

A thirty-something Carlos (top right and bottom left) now carries on in Mark’s footsteps. The other two show Mark handing out certificates on “promotion Sunday” to students who are now well into their twenties, if not older.

As many of you know, on April 13 it will have been two years since Mark passed away. Sunday school, Marco Bucks, and the silver pickup are just a few examples of the happy times we spent together. I think most people who knew him will agree.