Timberlake, Mark
TIMBERLAKE, Dr., Mark
Dr. Mark Hurt Timberlake, 72 years of age, died peacefully at home in Avondale Estates, Georgia on December 23, 2021 after a two-year battle with cancer.
Mark was born in Atlanta and attended the Westminster and Lovett Schools, Hampton Sydney College and the University of Georgia, where he graduated with degree in English. Upon graduation, he worked at, and eventually managed, the original Oxford Bookstore at Clairmont and Briarcliff Roads. While in therapy in the mid-1970s, he decided to pursue a career in psychology. He attended Georgia State for pre-requisite courses and was accepted at The California School of Professional Psychology in Los Angeles, CA, where he earned his PhD.
In 1976, he married Deborah Smith, of Atlanta, and they began the Los Angeles adventure that so broadened their lives. Their daughter, Kate, was born in 1978. With his natural curiosity, sense of adventure, and humor, Mark was a wonderful and fully engaged daddy. Upon returning to Atlanta in 1983, the family settled in Decatur and Mark began his career. He worked as a therapist at Clayton County and Rockdale County Mental Health. He began his private practice in Conyers, and later in his career joined the Pine River Psychotherapy Associates.
He loved his work and was never cynical about it. He treated clients of all ages and walks of life, but became best known for working with adolescents and young adults. He understood their pain and strove to help them to see their potential.
Mark loved life and the people who filled his life: friends new and old, tennis buddies, clients and colleagues. He was a great host, known in the neighborhood for his bi-annual oyster roasts. He had a warm, easy sense of humor and was a great teller of tales, mostly true. He reveled in a good book throughout his life.
Place was important to him: the house he grew up in, his grandparent's farm between Marietta and Roswell, grandmother's farm outside of Columbia, SC. All figured large in his life. He continued his father's hobby of building bluebird boxes and placing them for the enjoyment of others. Once Mark and Deb built their long-envisioned home in Avondale Estates, he made it his mission to place the boxes in his neighbors' front yards. He maintained them for many years. Today, a walk through Avondale will likely offer up of a flash of blue on the wing.
He kept engaged with his extended families in the Timberlake, Flintom, Pentecost and Hurt clans, attending family gatherings and working with the family enterprises.
He was a person of rare and gracious good nature and equanimity, ever with a quick smile and a glint of mischief in his eye. He is sorely missed by all who knew him. He is survived by his wife, Deborah Timberlake, his daughter, Kate Timberlake and her husband, Liam Strain, and their son, Owen Strain. He is also survived by his siblings: Lloyd Timberlake Jr., Anne Timberlake-Wright and Susan Timberlake, and nephews and nieces in whom he delighted.
Due to COVID, the family is delaying the celebration of his life. If you wish to make a donation in his name, please choose a local cause, but know that any act of kindness is an honor to his memory.
