Roland John Martin

Roland John “Rollie” Martin was born in Cooperstown, ND on February 17, 1936. He was born during a blizzard when the record-breaking temperature in North Dakota plummeted to minus 47 degrees. He was the eldest son of Gerald and Ada (Leininger) Martin. He was baptized as an infant and later confirmed in the Lutheran church. His faith in God remained strong throughout his life.

Roland attended grade school in Vancouver, WA while his father worked in the shipyards during World War II, and in various schools in North Dakota when his dad worked at various locations as an insurance salesman. He attended high school in Phoenix briefly, before the family moved to Fargo and he graduated from Fargo High School.

He attended North Dakota State University in Fargo while helping his dad by driving a taxi for City Cab Co. that his parents owned and operated.

Rollie made an appointment with a Boeing representative in Fargo and was accepted to begin work in Seattle, WA on April 1, 1957. He started in the shipping department as an inspector and, during his spare time, attended Boeing-sponsored classes in electronics. After completing the course with high honors, he transferred to the Electronics Lab where he worked as an electronics technician, computing and calibrating electronic test equipment for most of his 36-plus years before retiring in 1995.

The year after he began his career at Boeing, he married Yvonne Perhus at the Norman Lutheran Church near Kindred, ND on September 6, 1958. They made West Seattle their permanent home and became members of Hope Lutheran Church, where he served as Elder during the 70’s. Their two sons, Greg and Steve, were born and raised there.

Even during his high school years, Rollie had been maintaining his parents’ car and his own, and sometimes many of his friends’ cars. He always maintained our vehicles throughout his life. In his retirement, we enjoyed many years as Corvair members participating in club events locally as well as in Oregon, California and Canada. Rollie devoted much time promoting club activities. One of his greatest joys was helping members solve their Corvair mechanical problems.

Rollie had always been an avid reader and retirement gave him more time to pursue his hobbies of reading and music. He loved music and taught himself to play the guitar well enough to win a talent contest in high school sponsored by the local radio station, WDAY. His award was a 15-minute time slot every morning to play his guitar and sing over the radio for a week. His love of books and music is evident in his vast collection of each.

Preceding Roland in death were his parents, brother Daniel, sister Barbara Stuhlman, and niece Marguerite (Peggy) Minteer.

Surviving him are his wife, Yvonne, sons Gregory and Steven (Kelleye), brother Thomas (Ruth) and nephews and nieces.

He will be remembered as a faithful husband, loving father, caring brother and friend to many.