The funeral service for Mark Browning, 57, of Mina, SD, will be 10:30 am, Friday, May 2, 2025, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, with Pastor Matt Spoden officiating. Burial at Riverside Memorial Park Cemetery. Mark passed away on Saturday, April 26, 2025.
Visitation will be 3:00-7:00 pm, Thursday, May 1, with family present from 5:00-7:00 pm, at Spitzer-Miller Funeral Home, 1111 South Main Street, Aberdeen.
Mark Alan Browning was born April 30, 1967, at Aberdeen, SD, to Jack and Judy (Rieck) Browning. He grew up west of Warner on his grandparents’, Lester and Ruth, farm. He attended school at Warner and graduated in 1985.
At the early age of fourteen, Mark began working at Taylor Music in Aberdeen as a Band Instrument Repair Technician. After graduating from high school, he was promoted to the position of Night Shift Manager until the beginning of his college career in 1989. Taylor Music was where he first met Gigi Newman while jump-starting her car after a snowstorm. Mark married Gigi, the love of his life, on May 30, 1992, in Aberdeen, SD.
In May of 1994, Mark graduated from South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD, with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Mathematics Minor. After graduation, Mark moved back to Aberdeen where he was employed by Lust Automotive and Lien Transportation while pursuing an engineering position.
In May of 1995, Mark accepted an engineering position with the Department of the Interior – Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). His position began as a Highway Engineer with the BIA Department of Facilities, and then in 1997, the BIA Department of Roads. In 2006, he transferred to the Division of Natural Resources – Wildland Fire to work as the Geographic Information Specialist for Wildland Fires. The past three years, Mark worked with a Team on a Regional Spatial Fire Management Plan, which will be the first in the nation for the BIA. For the almost 30 years of working for the Federal Government, Mark proved to be a valued employee and will be greatly missed by his long-time co-workers.
In the early 2000s, with his intelligent mind and entrepreneurial spirit, Mark was the founder of two e-commerce businesses. He had foresight of how the internet would impact consumers in both the eyewear and snowmobile aftermarket parts industries. Gigi partnered with Mark and led the companies for many years.
In 2001, Mark and Gigi moved to Mina Lake, where they raised their two children, Nathan and Morgan. Mark loved his family immensely and enjoyed taking them on many trips to Disney World, Turks and Caicos, and out west to Montana and Wyoming snowmobiling. Over the years, Mark loved spending time with Gigi on many oceanic beaches. He enjoyed scuba diving where he could explore the mysteries of the ocean and its marine life. Mark was a huge supporter of his children’s activities. Dirt bike racing was a passion for him with his son Nathan, and he supported Morgan’s love for horses with her equine competitions. He enjoyed seeing both of them compete at the national level in Las Vegas. Most of all, he enjoyed raising them at Mina Lake to enjoy life on a lake filled with boating activities, watersports, and 4th of July firework celebrations. He made sure they had the best assortment of fireworks every year to celebrate our nation’s Independence Day.
ORANGE was Mark’s favorite color! He loved his orange 1970 Firebird from his college days and, most recently, his orange Corvette. Everything had to be orange! Having an adventurous spirit, many would say Mark was an adrenaline seeker. His enthusiasm for playing blackjack made 21 his favorite number and was referred to as “Blackjack Browning #21” in his days of racing. His favorite TV shows were M*A*S*H and the comedy series ALF. Throughout his life, he had many hobbies including modified car racing, snowmobiling, dirt bike racing, working on cars, scuba diving, boating, building LEGO’S, and hunting. In March 2025, he completed the Ron Fellows Corvette Performance Driving School at Spring Mountain, Nevada.
He loved his family and all of his friends! A straight-up guy with a huge heart who would give the shirt off his back to anyone who needed it. Mark was a devoted and loving husband and father. We are forever grateful to have had him in our lives for so many wonderful years.
Grateful for having shared Mark’s life are: his wife, Gigi Browning; children: Morgan Browning (Kaden Battest) and Nathan Browning; mother, Judy Hansen; siblings: Mike (Karen) Browning, Becky (Matt) Flom, Anthony (Jackie) Hansen, & Venus Donley; and many loving nieces and nephews.
Preceding Mark in death are: his father and stepmother, Jack and Mary Browning; his grandparents, Lester and Ruth Rieck, and Meryl and Catherine Browning.
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