Ron Martin Obituary

Ron Martin was the new Bishop in Clear Creek Ward when I moved to Lake Almanor, CA in March of 1999.  He soon called me to be Relief |Society President and we had a good working relationship.  He was truly a caring Bishop of this small ward.  It became so small it was later changed to a Branch.  This was due to the destruction of the logging industry by enviromentalists.  His wife Jean soon became a dear friend.  After I had been out in the field for several months in my new job as a Disaster Reservist Loan Officer in 2001 I was released.  He continued to see that I  always had wood in my wood bin for as long as I lived there.  It was so sad to hear about the dementia taken over his life.

Official Obituary as printed in the Plumas News.

Ron Martin passed away quickly and peacefully on Saturday, July 2, 2022, after enduring a few tough years of dementia. Services will be held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints chapel in Clear Creek, 3384 CA-147 Westwood, CA 96137, Saturday, July 9, 2022, at 11:00 am. He is survived by his wife Jean; sons Scott (Nichole) and Greg (Lorie); grandchildren Portia, Kendrick, Morgan (Jordan), Paige, Trevor, Calista, Brooklyn and Amelia; great-grandchildren Shane, Kodiak and Callen; and his sisters Norma and Kathy. He is preceded in death by his sister Donna.

Ron’s childhood was spent in northern Idaho with some of his teen years in southern California and Washington. He enlisted in the Air Force in 1956 at the age of 17. He was honorably discharged in 1960. While in the Air Force he played on the Air Force tennis team and flew all over the States in the back of cargo planes to get to his tennis tournaments. He was also on the Air Force Pistol team. Most of his stay in the service was at the Condon, Oregon, radar base where he was a draftsman. He was proud to report that while serving on the radar base no Russian bombers made it through their radar defense and America was safe for the years that he was there. Post-Air Force, he worked in the alarm industry in southern California and in the Bay Area. In the spring of 1979, he moved his family to Prattville. In 1980, he got a job at the Collins Pine sawmill. Later in 1980, he started his own alarm company. He went full time with his alarm company from 1985 until his retirement in December 2016. He had a busy retirement working around the house and chasing the grandchildren in all their varied activities.

His favorite pastimes were cooking large breakfasts, hunting, fishing, dirt biking, geocaching and serving in his local church. Most of his fishing was done with his sons on Butt Creek. His other fishing spots were Yellow and Soda creeks with his close friend Tony. His hunting was mostly done locally from Ohio Valley to Mud Creek Rim overlooking Chester, with many favorite secret places in between. He also spent many years traveling to Wyoming on elk hunts with his family buddy, Evan. He never brought home much meat but he had a ball with Evan in Wyoming. One summer he ran a small fishing camp up in Alaska where one of his clients was the famous Miami Dolphin, Larry Csonka. If you had the chance to go outdoors with Ron you found out quick that you needed to suffer and sacrifice while fishing or hunting or you were not be doing it right. You never sat while fishing or came back dry. Prime fishing was while you stood in the snow. Hunting was the same. Hunting tree blinds that would put your legs to sleep and you went into the hunting area by flashlight and left by flashlight. No sitting while dirt biking or racing.

He married his wife, Jean on June 22nd, 1962, and they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary just the other day.

Ron was 82 at his passing and stated to his family a few times he never thought he would live this long. He had a great run. When he did something, he was all in and would take anything to the bitter end. His memory faded pretty fast at the end and to get him talking and visiting at the last you had to go back in his memories 40 to 50 years to catch a spark from the past and fan it into a grand story where he would say repeatedly, “Those were the good ol’ days!”

He loved to shoot the bull and loved hearing others speak of their exploits. You did not need to know Ron long to know him well and he will be missed by all.

We say goodbye to Ron in the flesh but we race on, run on, work hard, love much and appreciate the day as we have his memories and stories still with us. To those examples, experiences, memories and stories we will never say goodbye to, but will be able say, “These are the good ol’ days.”

Thanks to all that knew him. You were all part of his long life.

Sincerely,

The Martin Family

My Friend Marjorie Has a Birthday

Marjorie and I had many good years at Lake Almanor doing things and going places together.  Here she is with her daughter Karen celebrating her birthday.

 

SBA Shirt 2003

After a Disaster was over there was usually a contest for designing the insignia for the shirt you could purchase as a memento of your experience on that disaster.  This was the one where I saw so much of Maryland and fell in love with the area.  The shirt was way to large and so I got rid of it but wanted to keep this memento.

This is the one I came home from in the winter time and my furnace had just gone out and I had a four feet high and wide solid berm in front of my house.

One of the elders in the ward brought over his machine and shovel and dug me out.  The next day he had a crash in his snowmobile and had a traumatic brain injury.  It took him months and years of recovery and learning to talk and walk again, totally changed his life.  He had to sell his airplane, changed the way they lived, sell restaurants he owned, etc.  But he remains a beautiful and humble man, whom I always loved hearing about their latest travels from.  Usually his wife or brother drove.  I do not think he could ever drive again.

 

Clear Creek Branch

Jean sent me a picture of the Branch doing social distancing as they are meeting for Church during Covid.

 

Our Branch President Loses? Wins?

Our Branch President is a third grade teacher.  He challenged his class that if they read the most books by the end of the year he would shave off his hair and mustache.

 Tuh duh, today was the day!!!  The class won, he lost--wait a minute, doesn't that make him a winner as a great teacher!!!  I think so, anyway hair grows back... I am not sure who they had to beat to win, but this is a good thing, right?

The new President G

Spooky Halloween Party at Clear Creek Branch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Utahna Comes to Town

When I first moved to Lake Almanor Utahna was the first to reach out and take me to the concert with her and her husband.  She would bring me plates of cookies and invite me to her home for Family Night.  I helped her with getting her genealogy going online.  She, Marjorie, and I were in a little singing skit together and she was the star!!  She was 82 then. 

She is now 96 and is still going strong.  She recently negotiated a move to a different Care facility because the place she was at was giving too many pills and would not honor her wishes.  She has also traveled to four weddings around the country recently with the help of a nephew.  Flying and traveling are no problem for her, she enjoys it all.  She has been a widow for several years and moved down to Chico, a warmer climate just 75 miles away.

California girl totally.  She said she left her passport somewhere and they took her aside at the airport and interviewed her and let her through.  Evidently age does have its privileges.  When she went to the Temple she had forgotten her Recommend so they called her Bishop.  After talking to her Bishop the presiding gentleman came out and said, "Stand aside everyone, this lady is going to be translated any minute now." (He had heard such a glowing report on her).

 She is teaching a Bible Class to a group who she said needed experience reading.  She also befriended a gentleman in hospice for three months (she has always cheered the "old people" in the hospital) and he left her a small fortune!!!  Another story to show her commitment and resilience.  Just before a friend called for her to drive her to the Temple she fell flat on her face on the cement and scratched her face in several places.  She went in and washed off the blood and got in the car to go.  Her friend said "I can't take you like that,"  but Utahna insisted they proceed and she went through the 90 minute Temple visit before thinking about her face again and she has the scars to prove it.

 Utahna is such a jewel, I have never heard a discouraging or negative word from her.  I thought I was too old to be concerned about beautifying my teeth and she just had hers done. She thinks I am young.  What a choice lady, Utahna.  Glad she counts me as a friend.

Recent lily blooms--no deer eating them yet--first thing I look at every morning!

 

 

 

 

 

Chips Fire Finally Contained!

 

My friend Jean's husband and son took these pictures of the Chips Fire--they are just now letting people into the area. 

 

 The fire started July 29 and 100% containment was August 31. 75,000 acres burned. The whole month of August was awful ... lots of smoke and frazzled nerves.  (from Jean)

 

They live on the southern tip of the lake and were threatened.  I live on the Peninsula and we were not.  However, we did have smoky skies and ash and little sun for the whole month of August.

 

Meagan and Keira had just been here and escaped it all, thank heaven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I live on the top of the Peninsula that you can see in the center of the picture.

 

Maryanne Turns 60!

Saturday night I was privileged to be invited to the surprise birthday party for Maryanne, our Relief Society President.  Her son had planned this party and had flown all the way from Arizona to pull it off.  He had invited her siblings and spouses who live in Chico, Paradise and Chester--there are four of them here.

 

He had also invited a several friends from the Branch.  SHE WAS VERY MUCH SURPRISED!

The birthday cake that her sister brought from Raley's had her picture on it!!  I have never seen any like this.  It was very well done!

 

The food and service was excellent.   We were at the Red Onion which has moved from Chester out to the Peninsula--so not far from my home. I   personally had  the Salmon and Garlic Mashed Potatoes and it was delicious and I had enough to take home for another meal. 

 

It was fun chatting with everyone and I am very impressed with Maryanne's son Chris.  He is 41 but looks much younger but a very impressive man.  He is in charge of  Golf Tournaments and a whole lot more.  He has lived in Florida, Mexico and now Arizona.

Marjorie and Lunch

Marjorie drove down to Corning to help celebrate her mother's 104th birthday.  She had six at her party and was even interviewed and photographed for the local paper.  They gave her two pages of news, pictures and even a picture from her high school days.  Marjorie's grandparents had owned the local theater and her mother had lived there a good part of her life.

Marjorie drove up to visit before returning to Vancouver, WA.  On Monday Jean and Maryanne met up for lunch at Mi Casita and we had a fun talk.

Unfortunately we should have met for breakfast so Marjorie could have made it home in one day.  She stopped at Eugene and the next day had to drive through pelting rain and sleet storm.   They are having snow now.  We still have none.

We really enjoyed seeing Marjorie and I wish I had taken her picture.  She is so tiny.  She eats very well and has lots of energy and she just turned 81!!!

A Night Out

I actually had a bit of a social life this week.  One of the new members of the branch invited the ladies to a dinner and game playing at their cabin being constructed in Mineral.

It turned out to be a very enjoyable evening, interesting talk on the way over and back and fun to see a beautiful cabin with the lovely Christmas decorations still up.  The cabin is A frame with a very high ceiling and there was an amazingly  tall Christmas tree all the way to the rafters.

We were served mahi mahi, which was so delicious, and even homemade Key Lime pie which was wonderful, too!  Games were dominoes and a block balancing game.

We should do this more often--only two of use were widows though--maybe not so easy for the others to get away.  Right now there is no snow so very easy to travel anywhere.

Birthday Girls!

Mary Anne went all out with a plant, balloon and poster for Margaret--86 years young.

Mary Anne and Margaret shared Birthday honors at Burger Depot on Monday at 1 PM.

Sue, Jean, Mary Anne and Margaret and joined by me...

Kathy added in...

Jeannette added in... It was a fun day!

The Day After Christmas 2010

In Church on Sunday, Mandy, one of our vacationing regulars from Reno (they have a second home in LACC) told about her six year old boy declaring "That's not true!" when I spoke at the November Fast Meeting and told the story of a tender mercy of the Lord in my college days.  (Refer to "An Answer to Prayer in the Mountains" in 'The Montana Years').

She went on to say how they used it for a 'teaching moment' and gave a very good talk about the importance of these teaching moments with our children.   She also said that every once in awhile he will now say, "Remember that lady who Heavenly Father helped up the slippery hill?" 

When her husband Andrew spoke, he also talked to the son in the audience about when the son's prayer was answered as well.  They both gave very touching talks.  Their families on both sides had been at their Lake Almanor vacation homes for Christmas and they were able to have their eight year old daughter baptized on Christmas Day in our Chapel.  That will be a nice memory for all of them.

Afterward I said to Mandy that I hoped she had convinced her son I was not a liar.  I then reminded her that I had commented before I spoke that for some reason I felt I needed to tell that story that day.  She said, "It was for us, it was for us."  She also said that for some reason he was listening very attentively to everything I said and that was most unusual for him.  However, she was very embarrassed when he blurted that out quite loudly and was trying to cover his mouth.

When he told her later in their "teaching moment" that it couldn't be true because he had prayed to Heavenly Father and He didn't do what he wanted.  Then they went over many times in their life when prayers had been answered.  They referred to the day in February when the father, the daughter and he had been stranded out on the dark mountain when their snowmobile had run out of gas.  They had prayed for help and that help had come.

Very lovely family and very interesting talks.  We always enjoy having someone besides our few members visit and especially when they share their lives with us.

Lovely side yard in the snow.

Birthday Time

Tomorrow is Mary Anne's birthday so we met at Burger Depot for lunch. Margaret is on the left, Jean in the middle and Mary Anne on the right. These are some of the nicest ladies you would ever want to meet and I have known Mary Anne and Jean since I moved here in 1999 and Margaret came several years later. Our ages range from 85 to 58--I should have gotten myself in the picture. Happy Birthday, Mary Anne. Since Mary Anne is the youngest we let her drive us everywhere. Tomorrow we go to Reno to the Temple as we did last Friday as well.

Girls Camp

We had a very spiritual Sacrament Meeting today.  Three of the girls and a leader bore their testimonies about Girls Camp.  Makes me realize I really did miss something by not being able to participate in such things when I was in high school.

Anyway, beautiful girls and beautiful leader--and we are all the benefactors by having them in our small Branch. 

The Branch President told us his daughter was 11 when her mother died.  He said Girls Camp helped her to cement her resolve to marry in the Temple.   He said she had not been successful in meeting the one who could take her to the Temple but she waited, and waited and this year at age 25 (old by LDS standards) she met the one and seven weeks later became engaged and they are going through the Temple December 18th.

A visitor bore his testimony as to the fact he would probably not have met his wife if not for Girls Camp.  She was a visitor at one many years ago and was so impressed it led to her baptism and eventually he met and married her. 

Presient Meyers bore his testimony to the fact these leaders of the girls are prayerfully called and pore their hearts into providing a spiritual and enjoyable experience for the girls.  The girls had told us about the Devotional Hall which resembled a quiet cave far away from the present world.  The girls would go in there as a small group and talk and pray together.  President Meyers said it was actually transformed from a tool shed but appeared inside like a cave with a warm fire of light (christmas tree lights in tissue) which reflected light and warmth on the 'cave' wall.  The girls really were impressed with their lone time there with just the girls from their own branch or ward. 

Anyway very inspirational meetings as the girls testified of their love for one another and the Gospel.  Unify the youth and you unify a ward, that is for sure.

Pres. Goolsby's Barbeque Bash

Friday night we had a delicious barbeque at the home of John and Jane Goolsby in Chester. Their home sits right on the bank of the Feather River. I had no idea they were so close. The dog even drinks her water by standng on the rocks near the edge. I wish I had remembered my camera!

Jean sent me these pix and from right to left is Jane (John's wife), Margaret, Sue, and Mary Anne.

This is Sue again with me. Notice their kitchen has this lovely color of red just like I would like in my living room!!

The tri tip and chicken were delicious (that Ron supervised) and there were lots of wonderful salads. And it was delightful sitting on the patio even if fall has arrived!! Great party with our little Branch family!