On the back of his bedroom door in Monroe, Mark Galloway hung a brand-new $500 suit. He was an Abercrombie and Fitch kind of man who loved to look snappy.
Even though he turned a wrench for a living, he was well dressed when he wasn’t under the hood of a car. He added a white hat and cane to his senior ball tuxedo at Monroe High School.
But his ultimate outfit would have been that worn by a NASCAR driver. His dream was racing cars. Along the way to that goal, his mechanical expertise was appreciated at Evergreen Speedway.
“He worked as a crew chief, a technical inspector on the super stock class, and his knowledge and passion for the sport, the drivers and the fans was respected by all the knew him,” said Chris Wall, who worked with Galloway at Speedway Chevrolet in Monroe.
“He was a very, very good kid, almost one of a kind, with a heart of gold and the heart of a giant,” Wall added. “In Mark’s 20 years on earth, he touched more lives than most could in 40.”
Mark Andrew Galloway, 20, died Jan. 20 after a car accident near Monroe.
Galloway, a Monroe High School and the Sno-Isle Auto Technician Training Program graduate, was close to completing the prestigious General Motors Automotive Service Educational Program at Shoreline Community College.
It’s the only GM program in Washington, said instructor Scott Main.
“Mark was starting his fifth quarter and was well liked in class by his peers, presented himself in a professional manner each day and was looked to for advice in most any subject,” Main said. “His dealership sponsor was equally impressed with his abilities.”
Speedway Chevrolet in Monroe employed Galloway as a service technician and performance consultant.
The last time Wall saw Galloway, he had his Silverado in the air on a rack in the shop, with all the tires off, and was taking pictures. Galloway said he needed to take some snapshots to get the suspension a little bit better.
Wall said if anyone could fix the suspension, it was Galloway.
“Not an earth-shattering moment, but for me, it will stand out forever,” Wall said. “Again, it was his passion to take something apart and make it better; that’s just the way Mark was.”
Galloway is survived by his parents, Greg and Elaine; sister, Krissy; grandparents, Don and Violeta; grandmother, Jackie; uncles, Scott and Matt; aunts, Gail, Susan and Penny; cousins, Chloe, Casey, Miranda, Isabel and Gabriel.
Neighbor Denise Dickmeyer said Galloway was a kid on a mission in their neighborhood. He was someone who always knew his life’s goal.
When he was younger, before he got his driver’s license, he would ask her husband, Roy, about fixing cars.
“Then a short while later, Roy was calling Mark to get advice on repairing our vehicles,” Denise Dickmeyer said.
He was polite, respectful, and was in control of his future, she said.
His father, Greg Galloway, said he pushed his son, but the young man far exceeded any father’s expectations.
“He had a talent with a wrench,” his father said. “But he wanted to drive, too.”
His mother, Elaine Galloway, said she never had to ask her son to shovel snow or mow the lawn.
“He just went out and did it,” Elaine Galloway said. “He never said ‘Later.’”
As many as 1,000 friends and family members attended a memorial for the young man at Evergreen Speedway shortly after his death in January.
His parents said their son had a dozen best friends.
After he died, they met a dozen more.
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.
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