Ecker family prepares to say goodbye

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - According to the Ecker family, final arrangements for Mark are as follows:

• Friday - Calling hours at East Longmeadow High School from 3 - 8 p.m. in the auditorium
• Saturday - Memorial service at East Longmeadow High School on the football field at 11a.m.
• Monday- Burial at Veterans Cemetery in Agawam at 11a.m.

Selectman Jim Driscoll told 22News people who wish to join the funeral procession are asked to meet at the Forastiere Smith Funeral Home on North Main St. in East Longmeadow at 10:15a.m. on Monday.

He says the procession will go up North Main St., through the rotary, past the high school, up Converse St. until Route 5, over the river, and ending at the Veteran's Memorial Cemetary in Agawam.

Selectman Driscoll told 22News the public is welcome to stand along the route to pay tribute to the life of Sgt. Ecker.

Twenty-three year-old Mark Ecker II died after the car he was riding crashed along I-93 in Andover Friday.

Preliminary investigation by the Massachusetts State Police found, a 1996 Pontiac Sunfire coupe driven by 21-year-old Stephanie Ortiz of Lawrence was traveling in the right travel lane of Route 93 South when she lost control and rolled over an embankment. Ecker was apparently not wearing a seat belt and was ejected during the crash.

According to the Ecker family, the seatbelt in the front passenger seat was not working.

Ecker was taken by ambulance with serious injuries to Lawrence General Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Ortiz was also taken by ambulance to Lawrence General Hospital with minor injuries.

Saturday morning, from the family's home on Mereline Avenue, Mark Ecker Sr. told 22News, "It's devastating, I've lost a son. I want him back and I'm not going to get him back."

The East Longmeadow man was a true American hero and Army veteran. "I just hope everybody remembers him for his love of country," said his father.

He was celebrated across the country by former President Bush and by fellow citizens of Western Massachusetts, and was the recipient of the Purple Heart.

In February 2007, the East Longmeadow man escaped death after an improvised explosive device went off as he patrolled the streets of Ramadi inside Iraq. It was Sgt. Ecker's second tour.

While recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, doctors fitted him with two prosthetic legs that took him on a new journey.

In the months to follow, he was treated to a hero's welcome back home; and those tributes never stopped.

In September of that year, the Red Sox fan threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park, which was a lifelong dream.

Ecker was honored in countless parades and ceremonies in the past two years.

Most recently, "Homes for Our Troops" announced it was raising money to build Ecker a specially designed home to help the local hero.