Mark Keuler 

Though his father-in-law was a member of the Knights, Mark hadn’t really given the idea of Knighthood much thought.  Grand Knight Randy Barrett found himself in conversation with Mark one day and noticed an opportunity for recruitment.  That’s how Mark Keuler ended up as a part of Council 10243.

 

Mark (who pronounces his last name Coy-ler) is a part of the Brown County Sheriff’s Department where he has worked for some thirteen years.  He is currently serving as a DARE (Drug Awareness Resistance Education) Officer and finds that this opportunity puts him in touch with young people of the community in a very positive way.  Prior to coming to Brown County, Mark also worked in Door County.  He originally thought about being a Warden for the Department of Natural Resources, but jobs in that field were pretty tight.  It was partly through the influence of a Liaison Officer in High School that Mark decided to go into police work.

 

For him, an average day begins at around 5:30 AM when he runs or exercises.  After getting to work at around 8:00 he is on the road, tending to four or five DARE classes per day.  He is responsible for 14 schools in the East Green Bay area, usually dealing with the fifth grade level.  DARE is something Mark found interesting because of the positive approach.  After spending several years as a county Officer ‘on the road,’ he was seeing a lot of the negative side of humanity dealing with the usual work of those in his profession.  But, he recognized the peer pressure and self-esteem issues which often contribute to substance abuse, and wanted to do something to try and prevent it.  In 1983 the department enlarged its DARE program to four Officers and Mark became a part of the program. His love for the program is evident from the fact that he passed up promotions in order to continue working in DARE.

 

A native of Green Bay, Mark attended St. Agnes School and Southwest High School.  He also studied at St. Norbert College and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.  He got a management degree from UW-Green Bay and was hired as a Door County Officer before he even graduated.  One of the benefits he sees is the fact that there is not a lot of evening commitments in his job, so there is more time for family.  Mark’s family is the most important value for him.  He and his wife, Laura, will be married ten years in July.  They have two children: Adam and Emily.  Both attend St. Bernard School.  He enjoys going ‘up north’ spending time at his dad’s cabin at Eagle River.  One of his passions is fishing, which means being out on the water by about 4:00 AM.  He also bowls occasionally and enjoys running and took part in a marathon for the first time last year. 

 

April 1999