Information quoted from
The Evening Independent, March 10, 1979
Statue of St, Mark Erected at Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park
The Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park in Clearwater is not only tranquil but is becoming quite majestic with the addition of an 18-foot-tall granite statue of St. Mark.
The statue, the work of Clearwater artist Les Macklem, was erected recently in the Garden of the Apostles at the park.
A similar-sized statue of St. Matthew was errected in December 1976. When completed, the Garden of the Apostles will have four quadrants, each with a statue in majestic size of the apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, according to W. H. Sherburne, Sylvan Abbey vice president.
Biographical information quoted from
Answers.com:
St. Mark (first century A.D.), one of the 12 Apostles chosen by
Jesus, is traditionally considered the author of the Second Gospel.
Little is known of Mark as a person. He is called "John" in three of the texts of the New Testament (Acts 12:12,25; 13:5,13; 15:37). The early Christians gathered at his family's house in Jerusalem (Acts 13:13). He accompanied Paul and Barnabas on Paul's first missionary journey as far as Perga in Pamphylia. The last mention of Mark is in the Acts when it is noted that he journeyed to Cyprus with Barnabas.
Mark's closest relationship seems to have been with Peter. Peter sends Mark greetings in his first letter (5:13), and Papias, a 2nd-century Christian writer, states that Mark copied down the words of Peter and thus composed the Gospel that carries his name. As far as can be judged from the testimony of Christian writers in the 2d and 3d centuries, Mark composed his Gospel in Greek some time between A.D. 63 and 70. If, as has been surmised, Peter was one important source for Mark's Gospel, and if the assigned date of composition is correct, it is possible that Mark accompanied Peter to Rome, going on from there after Peter's death.