James Marks

Dean of the Woods James Marks

Dean Marks was a product of the Great Depression. He began doing a man's job, and earning a man's wages at the age of fourteen, and pursued a timber faller's career with little interruption until his death at age sixty-five. His rare combination of intelligence, resourcefulness, and sense of humor make him a fascinating study in human nature. He was at once opinionated and tolerant, hard-nosed and soft-hearted, highly self-confident and self-effacing. These anecdotes and vignettes illustrate and highlight valuable lessons learned by an admiring and appreciative son while depicting a vanishing profession and one of the most memorable "professors" of that way of life.