Mark Wimberely, an Athens High School graduate and missionary to Latvia, is being inducted April 24 into the Athens ISD Distinguished Alumni. Mark, who also served as principal at AHS, was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on February 1, 1955, to Helen and Karl Wimberley. He was one of three boys, following after brothers John and Danny.
When Mark was four, his family moved from Arlington to Athens, which was a homecoming of sorts, as his family has a deep legacy in Henderson County. Mark’s father, Karl, owned a gasoline service station in Athens for many years. His mother, Helen, helped keep the books and ran their home with love and good humor.
Mark describes his early years as that of a typical East Texas boy, with his interests turning increasingly toward sports as he entered high school. All four years at AHS he played basketball and ran track, and played football his freshman year. “I loved basketball the most,” he said. “Our coach, Jesse Walker, was a tremendous influence on a lot of us. … I don’t think I sat down at the time and thought, ‘Wow, I want to be a coach someday,’ but he certainly didn’t make that path look unappealing.”
In addition to being a solid athlete, Mark had a vibrant social life and was involved in many extracurriculars. His senior year, he was selected as class favorite and as Mr. AHS, the latter resulting from a vote by the entire student body.
After graduating Athens High School in 1973, Mark attended Henderson County Junior College (now Trinity Valley Community College) for two years. At Stephen F. Austin State University, he took a coaching class and majored in physical education and history. It was also there, in one of his very last classes, that he met his future wife, Laura.
Mark’s first job as a coach was at tiny Martinsville ISD in 1977. “I was hired on a Tuesday night and coached junior high basketball on a Thursday night,” he recalled. “I was the only coach in the entire district for both girls and boys.”
After successive moves to larger districts, Mark became the head basketball coach at Diboll High School, where he also taught history. His 1982 boys team went 32-3 and made it all the way to Austin for the Final Four before losing in overtime to the eventual state champions.
In 1985, Mark earned a master’s degree in educational administration from SFA, and in 1991 — after 10 years at Diboll — he took the head basketball coach position at Athens High School, where he also taught government and economics. In 1998, he became assistant principal at Athens High School and, the year after that, principal.
For three years, Mark held the helm at AHS. “A lot of it, I loved,” he said, “but my two younger sons were about to start eighth grade, and I wanted to coach them.” That desire led him to Athens Middle School to coach basketball and teach history. It also gave Mark, for the first time in many years, some significant time off.
In the summer of 2003, his family church, First Baptist Church of Athens, hosted a Christian-based sports camp in Cesis, Latvia. Because of his move to middle school, Mark was able to go. “We took coaches and student athletes from Athens over there, put on sports camps and looked for ways to share the love of God. … It was fantastic. From the time I got there until I left, I felt at home.”
That fall, Mark moved back to the classroom at Athens High School, where he happily taught history and government over the last four years of his academic career. His summers during that time were spent expanding evangelical outreach efforts in Latvia, where he visited people in their homes, built relationships with kids, and encouraged the small but faithful members of Cecis Baptist Church to grow their congregation.
“The second summer we were there, I took my two youngest sons with me, and there was a feeling that I could live there,” said Mark. “So I came home and told Laura I could see myself working with that church.” The following summer, Laura joined Mark in Latvia, and in May of 2007, they both retired from Athens ISD and moved to Cesis.
“In Latvia, there’s a lot of fear of churches and fear of going inside a church that is a holdover from the years of Russian occupation,” said Mark.
Despite the initial culture shock, good things began to happen. With a great deal of assistance from members of FBC Athens, the Wimberleys helped secure and renovate an old factory in a residential area of Cesis, becoming the first permanent house of worship for Cesis Baptist Church since 1938.
Working within their Latvian church, the Wimberleys helped start youth and community outreach programs, led a prison ministry, launched a chaplaincy program for professional basketball teams, and continue to mentor both youth and adults.
Today, Mark and Laura split their time between Latvia and Athens. They enjoy their ever-growing family — four sons, Andrew, Adam, Jacob and Jordan, and twelve grandchildren.
Mark is being inducted along with Donna Bullock, AHS class of 1974, and Sam Fowler, who served as assistant superintendent at AISD from 1976-1996.