Mark Gurries, a noted expert in the use of NCE’s DCC system, passed away on November 25, 2023, after health complications. He was 62 years old.
Contributing editor Tony Koester had this to say about his passing: “Mark was a very bright and extremely helpful individual who helped many of us with thorny little, sometimes big, DCC issues. He was always willing to share his knowledge with other users of this popular command control system and provided many helpful tips and techniques through talks and individual emails.”
Former DCC Currents columnist Allan Gartner also spoke highly of Mark: “Mark explained technical DCC issues in a manner that could be understood by the average modeler. He has been involved translating DCC details since the earliest days of DCC. Mark had a hand in shaping decoder programming software in what would become DecoderPro. He was a primary contributor on the NCE DCC groups.io forum and I was glad to have him contribute content to my Wiring for DCC website.
Mark has a website explaining DCC topics. An effort is underway to save this work and will be announced when completed.
His willing to help advance the understanding of DCC to the everyday modeler will be greatly missed.”
For now, Mark’s website is still available and can be found here.
We sometimes forget that there are people behind the words posted online (and on the printed page) and though the words live on, eventually the writer must depart “this mortal coil”.
Condolences to friends and family.
Michael