Mark Paul Fabry Sr., June 18, 1957 - January 27, 2026

Sunderland, MA–Mark P. Fabry Sr., of Sunderland, MA, died suddenly on the evening of January 27, 2026 at Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, MA. He was 68 years old. Mark was born in Northampton, MA on June 18, 1957 to Doris and Paul Fabry. Mark graduated from Frontier Regional High School in South Deerfield, MA in 1975, where he was a lettered athlete in football, basketball, and baseball. From there he began a 30 year career as a devoted herdsman at the UMass Amherst dairy farm formerly located in South Deerfield. His role there grew to Head Herdsman, contributing to the education of thousands of students from pre-veterinary to agricultural Stockbridge School programs. The wealth of knowledge and passion he brought to that career at a young age came from growing up on a cattle farm located in Sunderland, MA where he lived, and continued to maintain a small herd of cattle until his passing. Growing up on the family farm, started and built by his father and mother, allowed him to collect an eclectic breadth of trade skills maintaining everything from utilitarian farm equipment to a fleet of snowmobiles and everything in between. He spent his youth being heavily relied on by his father to keep the family farm running while his father also worked a full time job outside the home. That legacy of a strong work ethic and trade knowledge created by his father and continued by Mark Sr., was passed to his three children. His eldest son, Mark Fabry Jr. utilizes these learned skills as a jack-of-all trades for a successful local property management company as Head Maintainer, while his son, Matthew Fabry, owns his own construction business with his wife. In 2003, Mark’s ability to fix and fine tune his friends’ and neighbors’ snow machines, grew to a successful small business with his son, Matthew. They spent many cherished years together in The Snowmobile Shop growing their education in all things snowmobiles, and more importantly, sharing stories, laughs, and time together, and with the local folks that would pass through. His youngest child, and only daughter, Kara Fabry, only known as “Pumpkin” to all that Mark spoke to about her, showed early promise in the service industry and with Mark’s help and support has built a life and career that began as a local bartender and has blossomed into a wildly successful business owner with her partner, having bought The Spoke in Amherst, MA in 2016, rapidly turning it into the #1 bar in the 5 college region.

Mark took great pride in providing and beautifully maintaining acreage of space for his 10 grandchildren to run, play, and enjoy all 4 seasons on the family farm. In winter, he continued to pass along his knowledge of mechanics to his grandsons and their many close friends, while in the summer when they were all younger could be found filling the pool he provided for the kids to cool off in. The pride he felt for all of them was apparent in his patience in teaching them, and the laughs he shared with them, along with the help he provided later in retirement with daily school pickups and babysitting the grandchildren.

Following his retirement from the dairy farm, he never stopped keeping busy working and traveling the state with AllState Paving, doing concrete work with his close friend and business owner at Buck Brothers Concrete, reviving a local tavern in South Deerfield which he eventually sold to his daughter, contributing to his daughter’s business in Amherst cleaning and maintaining The Spoke in the very early hours before it opened for the day, and eventually working alongside his son, Mark Jr. and grandson in the maintenance department for Pipeline Properties. He spent countless hours in the shop on the farm property and if you didn’t see him with a wrench or hammer in his hand, you knew something was up.

Mark and his kids loved to participate in hobbies together that involved friendly competition. One of the most notable of these was the horseshoe league that met every Tuesday in the summer at The Hadley Young Men’s Club (a deceiving moniker as women were encouraged to participate and spend time there including his daughter), culminating in a day long tournament attended by league members and their families. Most seasons, all 3 kids and Mark Sr. ended up on separate teams, just adding to the good natured competition between them. Mark looked forward to those league nights each and every summer. That league play, his love of socializing at the bar he owned, and years of having friends and neighbors stop by his shop at the farm were all opportunities for Mark to hone his ‘gift of gab’. Although his ancestral roots are in Poland, he could have been an honorary Irishman with his storytelling.

Second only to his love for his kids and grandkids, was his passion for farming and for raising cows. His kids remember many summers spent on the tractor with their dad and grandfather throwing hay in the fields of the farm. He took so much pleasure in raising a small herd of cows with his sons later in life, seemingly always finding the smartest ones, as he and his boys got more than a few phone calls from neighbors that the cows had gone gallivanting. Once corralled, it wasn’t uncommon to see the three of them laughing as they parted ways knowing they would be back to chasing their escapees together again soon enough. Mark loved to farm all sorts of vegetables in a large garden on the farm property. In the last decade or so, he got very invested in his asparagus patch, often sharing the fruits of his labor with friends and neighbors, and the evolving asparagus-growing knowledge he acquired with whoever would listen. His green thumb extended to his “controlled jungle” in his home. He took great pride in caring for, propagating, and growing an impressive houseful of plants, something that inspired his daughter-in-law to emulate. Mark was an avid angler and hunter, spending hours at Cranberry Pond in Sunderland catching the largest trout, as any good angler would say, and teaching his kids the nuances of the pastime when they were little. Both of his sons and his grandsons have followed in his footsteps responsibly participating in bow & gun hunting seasons with shared passion and time together. Having impressive success every season, collectively. Within the last couple of years, Mark, his son, and grandson, built what can only be described as a mini butcher shop in the space that had many different iterations over the years from The Snowmobile Shop & mechanics and motor repair, to winter food canning operations, warmup & hot cocoa headquarters for grandkids in the winter, to general socializing space. Mark always had ideas, and was always looking to add to, and evolve, his favorite place, The Farm.

In earlier times on the farm, Mark looked forward to sharing celebrations of his birthday with friends, family, neighbors, and community members far and wide with his annual weekend long birthday bash. People would camp out, share in massive pot luck meals, enjoy live music, laughs, and celebration during the weekend closest to his birthday in June. One of the highlights, that outlasted even the birthday bashes, was his famous BBQ cooler chicken. He built his own racks and cooked it over an open fire. It was a staple at his parties and a tradition for decades. His three kids have many fond memories of riding bikes with guests’ children, eating delicious food shared by the community, including his bbq cooler chicken, and waking camping guests a bit earlier than appreciated with innocent child shenanigans in the fields.

Mark’s life was spent taking great pride in the legacy created by his parents on that special plot of land in Sunderland, loving and supporting his kids in every way he was able, keeping busy, working hard, and enjoying the simplicities of life: learning, teaching, working, and keeping his passions alive through his kids and grandkids. He will be missed by so many, but has left his loved ones with extensive capabilities to continue the Fabry legacy.

Mark was predeceased by his mother, Doris (Rutherford) Fabry, his father, U.S. Marine Sargeant, Paul Fabry, and his brother, David Kassing. He is survived by his sister, retired State Police Lieutenant Robin Fabry of Rhode Island, his two sons, Mark Fabry Jr. of Sunderland, MA, Matthew Fabry and his wife, Alycia Fabry, of Easthampton, MA, his daughter, Kara Fabry and her partner, Chad O’Rourke of Key Colony Beach, FL, and his aunt, Carol Basara. He has 10 grandchildren: Kirsten, Cole, Sadie, Sage, Kaela, Mason, Madelyn, Jase, Sean, and Colin; two nephews, Luke & Lex, a niece, Amanda Dyer, and many extended family and friends that will deeply miss him.

There will be a Celebration of Life held on Saturday, February 7, 2026 from 12-5pm at The Rec Room (formerly The Spoke Live), 1 Pray St., Amherst, MA 01002.  

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