On August 20, 1999, Family Counselor Mark Rowland of Nashua Children’s Home was shot and killed by a client family member while conducting a home visit in Nashua.  Mark left his wife, Lynette and then two-year old daughter, Emily.  

Subsequent to Mark’s passing, his life was memorialized by ceremonies commemorating the Mark S. Rowland Memorial Gymnasium on the grounds of Nashua Children’s Home, and Mark S. Rowland Park, on Jewell Lane in Nashua, abutting Nashua Children’s Home. 

Annually, on the anniversary of Mark’s death, staff of Nashua Children’s Home vote to select the recipient of the Mark S. Rowland Exemplary Service Award, conferred on a deserving staff member “for extraordinary efforts in advancing the mission of Nashua Children’s Home.”