Howard Mark Bodwell (1961- )

Son of: Geoffrey 1914

Mark Bodwell is the son of Geoffrey Bodwell, the compiler of the Bodwell Family Lines. Mark was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1961. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Toronto, Ontario, for six months, and then to Ewell, England. Mark’s brother Graham was born soon after.

Mark attended Homefield Preparatory School in Sutton, Surrey, for five years. He was an excellent student, finishing at the top of his class or in second place every year. He recalls that the education was so advanced at Homefield that even in grade 12 in North America, he was being “introduced” to concepts he had learned at Homefield.

In 1971, after Geoff retired from Shell, the family moved to Kelowna, British Columbia. Although Mark has some fond memories of Kelowna and still visits there often, he didn’t fit in at his new schools. Partly due to this, the family moved again in 1975, to Mill Bay, on Vancouver Island.

Mark attended Cowichan Senior Secondary School in Duncan, British Columbia, graduating in 1978 with top honours. Like his father, he did very well academically but poorly in sports, despite a love for soccer, hockey, and baseball. For the next five years, Mark completed bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and computer science at the University of Victoria, graduating with honours on the co-op program. Mark’s co-op work terms were spent with IBM Canada, Nanaimo City Hall, the Ministry of Environment, Defense Research Establishment Pacific, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In his final work term with the RCMP, Mark wrote a crime analysis computer system that won national recognition for community contributions to police work.

Upon graduation from university, Mark worked as a consultant for the RCMP in Nanaimo for eight months before taking a full time programming position with British Columbia Ferry Corporation in Victoria in 1984. He stayed with them for two years before moving to North Vancouver in 1986, taking a job with Nissi Technologies, a company that produces software for municipal governments. Mark left Nissi in 1990 and joined Co-operators Data Services Ltd., a leading company in the Canadian financial software industry. In 1995, Mark moved to Surrey, and shortly thereafter hired on with Plexus Systems Design, now Marlborough Stirling Plexus, the world leader in mortgage administration software. With Plexus, Mark has risen to being the leader of the international development team, directing the adaptation of the company’s core product to the British and South African banking environments.

While at CDSL, Mark was introduced to his wife in an unusual way. The company had had a costume contest on Halloween, and Mark won one of the prizes. While flipping through the pictures that the company photographer had taken, he came across a set of pictures of the photographer’s own Halloween party. The party basically consisted of the photographer and a couple dozen beautiful Filipina women. Mark riffled through the pictures, pointed out the one he’d like to meet, and history was made. Mark was introduced to Jeanifer Puda a week later; they were engaged on Valentine’s Day, 1992, and married eight months later on October 17, less than a year after first meeting.

Jeanifer was in Canada on the Foreign Domestic Worker program – she was a nanny for rich families. The rules on the program were that she had to take a live-in position and sign a series of one-year contracts before being eligible to apply for Canadian citizenship. By the time Mark and Jeanifer were married, she was on her last contract. But …

If Jeanifer quit her job and reapplied on the Spousal Program, she would not be able to work until she received her landed immigrant papers, a process that would take about two to three years. If she stayed on the Foreign Domestic Program, she could continue working and apply for landed status immediately – but she had to keep her live-in job and only stay with Mark on weekends until her contract was over! Despite such bureaucratic provocation, Jenny stuck with her original program, and was finally allowed to live with her husband in June, 1993.

Mark and Jeanifer’s son Steven was born on February 5, 1994, in North Vancouver. Their daughter, Jacqueline, followed on July 20, 1995, in Surrey. Steven is a quiet, smart, happy boy who loves books, Lego, sports, trains, and taking things from Jacqui. Jacqui is an outgoing, smart, happy girl who loves school, her stuffed animals, sports, dancing, and taking things from Steven. They are the best of friends.

During high school and university, Mark’s love for the game of baseball developed into a passion for umpiring. Mark had umpired his first game at the age of eleven, getting into the profession the way many people do: he went to watch his little brother play, the umpire didn’t show up, and Mark was the only person in the stands. Getting to call his brother out on strikes three times in one evening was enough to turn Mark into a lifelong umpire.

While in high school, Mark began umpiring Babe Ruth baseball and men’s fastpitch softball in Duncan. Upon attending university, Mark moved up to umpiring men’s amateur and semi-pro ball in Victoria. In 1986, Mark attended the Harry Wendelstedt School of Professional Umpiring. He finished around the middle of the pack, and did not get offered a job in professional baseball. When he moved to Vancouver in 1986, his umpiring career took off. His talents were quickly noticed, and by 1989 he had umpired in his first national championship tournament.

In 1990, Mark attended the inaugural class of Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring. Although he did extremely well at the Academy, he was not invited into professional baseball. Returning to Vancouver, Mark continued developing as an amateur umpire. Since then, he has officiated in another five national championships, as well as over twenty provincial championships. He even got to work one professional game when the umpires coming up from the States hit a moose and totalled their car. Mark’s goal is to work in world championships, the Pan Am Games, and the Olympic Games before retiring.

Mark and his family presently live in Surrey, British Columbia, and have no plans to move for the foreseeable future. Mark has kept his father’s genealogical records and hopes one day to continue Geoff’s work.

Born	Died	Married	Spouse
15 Jun 1961		17 Oct 1992	Jeanifer Ochoterina Puda
Rio de Janeiro		Surrey, BC	b. 19 Sep 1960

Children of Howard and Jeanifer (Puda) Bodwell

	Name	Birth Date	Birth Place	Death Date	Death Place
1.	Steven James	5 Feb 1994	N. Vancouver, BC
2.	Jacqueline Rhiannon	20 Jul 1995	Surrey, BC

07/21/97

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Contact: charlie@bodwellfamily.org