Mark Drafton, Santa Rosa youth running coach and avid cyclist, dies at 54

Widely admired Sonoma County youth running coach Mark Drafton died Monday from a blood clot he became aware of during another of his favorite outdoor activities: road cycling.

Drafton was a U.S. Coast Guard veteran who worked in the medical field and spread the love and myriad benefits of track and field as a volunteer coach with the Santa Rosa Express Running Club. He would have turned 55 on July 8.

Outside of the running club, the father of two did agility and speed training for football players at Santa Rosa High School and elsewhere. And he introduced running to youngsters with autism and other challenges through the Matrix Mighty Milers.

He found joy in “fostering love for all of that in the youth,” said his wife of nearly 21 years, Wendy Drafton. “Oh, gosh, he loved the kids so much.”

Mark Drafton’s career work involved various aspects of health care in Santa Rosa. As a civilian, the former Coast Guard rescue swimmer and health technician was at various times a medical tech in medical offices and at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, and also a supply chain leader.

He did purchasing for Medtronic and most recently was supply chain director for Sutter Health in the North Bay. He’d worked for Sutter for eight years when he left early this year to seek a new position.

Drafton’s job search was stymied by the business and industry shutdown prompted by the COVID-19 outbreak. He spent the last few months at home in Santa Rosa with his family.

Mark Anthony Drafton was born July 8, 1965, in Phoenix. He grew up in Beckley, West Virginia.

Upon his graduation from the town’s Woodrow Wilson High School in 1983, he enlisted in the Coast Guard. He served 15 ?years and at the time of his discharge was assigned to the training center west of Petaluma.

Deciding to stay in Sonoma County, he found work as an assistant at a medical practice in Santa Rosa. It was there he met Wendy Peters.

They married in the summer of 1999. They would have a daughter, Olivia, who just completed her second year at the University of Oregon, and son, Kona, a new senior and member of the varsity football team at Santa Rosa High.

Beyond his passion for running and for mentoring and encouraging kids through the now-idled Santa Rosa Express Running Club, Drafton loved riding both road and mountain bikes. Like many cyclists, he also savored a beer with buddies.

“He was a super funny guy,” his wife said. “He could just make you laugh, and he was a great storyteller. And he was always up for debate.”

Mark Drafton took a road ride on June 2, a hot day. His wife recalls him returning home and telling her, “That was a really hard one.”

He was sick to his stomach, and there was pain in his abdomen. Then he went to the emergency room at Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital and was admitted. Doctors discovered a blood clot from his heart had blocked the artery to and badly damaged his small intestine. He died six days later.

In addition to his wife and children in Santa Rosa, he is survived by his sister, Trasi Branch-Lewis of Beckley, West Virginia, and his brother, Troy Drafton of Alexandria, Virginia. Wendy Drafton plans a celebration of his life once it’s allowable for a large number to gather.

You can contact Chris Smith at 707 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.