Educator-of-all-trades
The first of his family to graduate from high school and one of a few to graduate from college, the Rev. Dr. Mark H. Houshower has spent much of his life working in education. He has been a high school English and history teacher, a superintendent, a school program consultant for the government of Guam, a speech instructor at the College of Guam and an education professor at Arizona State University. In addition, he held a variety of positions at Bluffton, including education and speech professor, director of teacher education, academic dean, vice president of academic affairs and acting president.
Mark met his wife, Margaret (Berky ’42) Houshower, at Bluffton. Margaret was the editor of The Witmarsum, and she named Mark the managing editor, providing both of them with the luxury of returning to their dorms after curfew. They were married by Dr. Lloyd Ramseyer in the chapel on campus in 1944, while Mark was on furlough from his three and a half years of military service during World War II. During the war, Mark taught adult illiterates and worked as a cryptographer and German interrogator.
As a program consultant for schools in Guam, Mark found the mix of cultures faced the same basic educational problems he had experienced in the states. He says, “This job gave my family the opportunity to realize a life-long dream—an extended trip around the world and a chance to see other cultures in action.” Mark has also traveled to Denmark, England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, Hong Kong and Barbados, among other countries.
While on a sabbatical from Bluffton, Mark taught at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria as a part of the Mennonite Central Committee Teachers Abroad Program. It was during this time that he felt an inner call to pursue pastoral ministry. Upon returning to the states, he resigned his tenure position at Bluffton and enrolled in Eden Theological Seminary at age 58 to become an ordained pastor in the United Church of Christ. At the time, Mark says he didn’t see the move as a complete career change. “Many of the counseling and community activities that I participated in during my educational career continued to be a part of my pastoral career,” he says. He served several parishes throughout northwest Ohio for 22 years before retiring in 2000.
Mark and his wife reside in Bluffton, Ohio. They have two children and five grandchildren.
