Mark Peter Piette
Mark Peter Piette turns 60 today. He is the second of the 7 Piette kids. Born a mere 11 months and 7 days after Chas, the two of them could have hardly been more different growing up. But Mark, too, was an enormous influence on me. He helped protect me from bullies, he did things in High School I wanted to emulate, and most of all he had adventures that set me up for a large part of my life. He was always there to comfort the younger kids when they needed it, and to take care of us no matter what had to be done. I can remember, gosh, I must have been very young, when I had wet my pants and was very, very embarrassed. Mark saw me, and took me upstairs without saying anything, put me in the tub and got me some clean clothes. Many kids would have taken that opportunity to humiliate a younger sibling. But he never did that. Growing up in Appleton, WI was pretty much growing up in the same town as Leave it to Beaver. There was no racial tension, little...