Mark Manning Lydon, 74, longtime race secretary and one of the breeders of millionaire pacer Albatross, passed away on Saturday, February 18 after a brief illness
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Born in Boston, he was the son of the late Dr. Mark T. and Mary (Manning) Lydon. He was a graduate of Abington High School class of 1955, Wilbraham Academy, class of 1956 and Tufts University with a B.Sc. in Biology. At Tufts he was a member of the football and baseball teams.
Lydon started his career as a biology teacher and the assistant football coach at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School. In 1963, he and his wife Elizabeth relocated to Philadelphia where he began his career in harness racing. He served as a racing secretary at Philadelphia's Liberty Bell Park for several years. Additionally, in 1977 he was appointed racing secretary at Laurel Raceway in Laurel, Maryland. He also worked at Brandywine and Freehold Raceways and at the Meadowlands. In 1973, Lydon received the National Breeder's Trophy (for the Breeder of the Horse of the Year) by the USHWA Delaware Valley Chapter for the famous horse Albatross.
Lydon is predeceased by his wife Elizabeth Helen (Andrews) Lydon and is survived by his daughters Mary Ellen Cashman and her husband John of Abington and Erin Gannon of Whitman. He is also survived by his sister Judith Driscoll and her husband James of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was the grandfather of four grandchildren; Sarah Elizabeth Gannon, John Lydon Cashman, Katherine Brigid Cashman and Mark Manning Cashman and uncle to several nieces and nephews.
A Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday at 11 a.m. in St. Bridget's Church, 455 Plymouth St., in Abington, Massachusetts. Visiting hours omitted. Interment will be private.
Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Mark Lydon.