Today’s funeral of Mark Kasper, 63, of Minot, who died March 25, will reflect his passion for his favorite football team. Pallbearers in Packers attire will accompany the green and gold casket carrying Kasper, wearing his Green Bay apparel and, of course, a Packers hat.

“He always had a Packers hat on. You never saw Mark without his Packers hat,” said Mary Kasper, his wife of nearly 42 years.

Packers memorabilia decorated the family area Tuesday in Thomas Family Funeral Home, which arranged for the special casket and vault colors.

Mark’s brother, Chuck Kasper, also a Packers fan, said their father had followed the team, and as young boys in the late 1960s, they started taking an interest, especially after the Packers won a couple of Super Bowls. Their team struggled from 1970 to 1994, but they remained faithful, he said.

JIll Schramm/MDN A Packers flag and a milk jug portray important pieces of the life of Mark Kasper, a Packers fan who worked for a creamery.

“The Pack is back,” was Mark Kasper’s famous phrase, regardless of how the season was to turn out.

“He was rewarded when the Packers got (quarterback) Brett Favre. Then we were good, and we’ve been good ever since,” Chuck Kasper said.

When licensed sports merchandise became widely available over the years, Mark Kasper’s enthusiasm for the Packers became even more evident. Mary Kasper said visitors to their home had no question about her household’s loyalties when they walked through the door.

She recalls the first time she and her husband attended a game at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

“Besides the birth of the girls,” she said, “that was the highlight of his life – to finally get to Lambeau and watch a game. It was for me, too, because he turned me into a Packers fan. We’ve been there three times. We were there when Favre retired his number, in a driving rain storm, and we froze to death, but we were there.”

Several years ago, Mark and Mary Kasper traveled to Chicago to watch the Bears take on the Packers. Chuck Kasper, of Danville, Illinois, joined them and saw how Mark boldly wore his Packers apparel around downtown Chicago.

“He was proud to be a Packers fan and he wanted everybody to know,” he said.

The Kaspers also traveled to the football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, to see Favre inducted in 2016. Mark Kasper’s favorite player, though, had been wide receiver Jordy Nelson, who played with the Packers from 2008-2017.

Along with brothers Gregg, Chuck and James “JP,” Mark grew up loving and playing sports. His brothers say Mark was the true athlete in the family, passing his athleticism on to his daughters Lisa, Jennifer and Michelle.

Mark Kasper worked 28 years for Bridgeman Creamery in Minot.

“Wherever he worked, he was very loyal,” said Gregg Kasper of Ogden, Utah. “When he did something, he put everything into it he possibly could. Everybody he had the opportunity to deliver to, they loved him.”

Mary Kasper said he knew everyone along his milk delivery route between Minot and Fessenden.

“He would take his time to visit. He visited with everybody,” she said.

Kasper continued to follow his Packers despite declining health over the past five years.

Funeral guests were invited to dress in Packers apparel or colors to honor Kasper.

Funeral director Brad Thomas said the funeral home had some advance notice of the family’s intentions and a good relationship with its supplier to be able to obtain the special casket colors. A casket maker familiar with different color requests was able to fulfill the family’s wishes.

Gregg Kasper said the funeral may be informal and unusual, but it is sincere and true to who his brother was.

“This was Mark,” he said, noting that it’s comforting for the family to remember him the way he would want to be remembered.

“I think he is smiling,” he added. “We are honoring him. And that makes me feel really good.”