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This is the only photo I have of Danny, but it's the only one I really need. It's exactly how I want to remember him...sitting around the campfire. This is where he was at his best. This is where I learned the most from him. I sat around campfires with Danny since I was in fourth grade. He would take me camping with Rick and Scott to Wolf Creek. Our families would camp together at the Chetco. I took my family to camp with him and Gayle and Rick and Devine at Belknap the last several years. I learned as much from him the last time I saw him as the first.
Danny Martin was a one-of-a-kind individual. He was good at everything he did. He never cut corners. He was one of the toughest men I've ever known. His hands were huge and strong to point of having legendary status. He taught me what the meaning of tough was. He was a born leader.
I always liked how proud he was of everyone he loved. I always liked how he told stories about Rick and Scott's achievements as if they had left the room, but were sitting next to him.
I loved the way he told stories. They were always about the people he cared about. I loved stories about Pete, and my grandfather, Russ, on the waterfront. I liked stories about Rick, Rod and I in high school...he remembered everything.
I'm in disbelief that he has passed. Of all the people I know his age, I would have bet the farm he would have outlasted them all. The only solace I have is that he lived everyday as if it was his last. He was always industrious and responsible, and yet mindful of having fun. He made having fun an art form. He worked at having fun harder than I work at work.
I will dearly miss him, just as I miss my own grandfather.
Sitting around a campfire will never be the same for me.
Tom
Obit:
Danny J. Martin
Sept. 21, 1942 - April 29, 2005
A memorial service for Danny J. Martin, 62, of North Bend, will be held at noon on Saturday, May 7, at North Bend High School gymnasium. Danny was cremated and his ashes will be scattered at a later date.
Danny was born on Sept. 21, 1942, to James L. and Ruth (Kissinger) Martin, in Antioch, Calif. He died April 29, 2005, in Prineville.
He moved to Oregon in 1950. After graduating from high school, he went to work at Weyerhaeuser for a few years. He then went into the longshoring profession, from which he worked for 35 years. He retired from longshoring in 1998. He married his loving and devoted wife, Gayle, in 1963.
He was active in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local No. 12; served as the North Bay Rural Fire Protection District volunteer fire chief from 1972 to 1992; and on the North Bay RFPD board from 1992 to 1998.
He is survived by his wife, and sons and daughters-in-law, Scott and Sheri Martin of Reno, Nev., and Rick and Devine Martin of Powell Butte; and grandchildren, Bryson, Kelsee, Zachary and Sheldon. He also is survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Roger and Karen Martin of Bend; sister and brother-in-law, Ruth Ann and Lee Goddard of Brush Prairie, Wash.; and several nieces and nephews.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the Firefighters Memorial in care of City of Coos Bay Finance Department, 500 Central Ave., Coos Bay, OR 97420; or to a charity of choice.