Born: December 2, 1917: Coastesville, Chester County, PA
Died: November 4, 2002: Severna Park, Anne Arundel County, MD
Mother: Mary Catherine Evans
Father: David Kidd Martin
No siblings
David Wesley Martin was born in Coatesville, PA on December 2, 1917 to David Kidd Martin and Mary Catherine Evans. As a young boy, he was inquisitive and often caused his mother to suffer anxiety attacks as he attempted pranks at the urgings of other children. One of these pranks involved sledding down a steep hill directly under a truck, causing the truck driver to veer off the road. Certain that her only child had met his end, and that the truck driver was dead as well, his mother ran out into the road only to find her child grinning from ear to ear and that the driver was sporting decidedly wet pants. My father soon recieved a spanking he never forgot. Another endeavor involved riding his tricycle down a flight of stairs backwards. He managed to crack his head at the bottom of the stairs, which we jokingly told him explained a lot about him. His mother he said, had such a hard time keeping track of him that she often resorted to hanging him on the clothes line as she did her wash. But one of his happiest childhood memories involved his mother reading Greek mythologies to him at bed-time. He loved those stories and often told me about these stories and about her. This is what stuck with him the most. He loved her so much and so it came as a great blow to him when she died prematurely when he was just eight or nine years old. Doctors had misdiagnosed breast cancer. From that day forward, my Dad had a great mistrust of doctors.
Instead of being shipped off to family or an orphanage as so many of his friends had, who had lost mothers, his father merely hired a house keeper and worked extra hours. He told my father that they would have to work together to keep the family intact. Because of this, my Dad had a profound respect for him that lasted throughout my father's life. And work together they did. Literally. My Dad would often tag along on odd jobs, helping out when he could. And it is through these jobs that my father gained an interest in engineering. To do his part, my Dad invented an alarm clock to make sure that he got up in time. The only problem was that it delivered a shock if you didn't get up in time, and since my father was notorious for not getting up when the first alarm when off, he got a mighty nasty shock. After a few shocks, he learned, and from that day forward, he was up before the first alarm ever went off.
Dad attended local schools, where much to his surprise, and I'm sure his father's delight, he was shown to be a genius. The year before his graduation, he blew up the science lab brewing beer and then littered the stage at graduation with bottle caps that exploded when the seniors walked across. Of course everyone knew it was my father, but he used the "I'm still grieving the loss of my Mother, Sir," card and got away with it. He later went on to attend Drexel University where he studied engineering. There, he studied under professors who told him, because of his cavalier attitude that he would never pass. My father had a sense of humor that many just didn't understand. But another thing others didn't get was that one thing you never said to him was things he could and couldn't do. He passed with flying colors and recieved a degree in RF Analog Engineering, something he loved doing, and worked on almost until the day he died. After graduation, he worked a various amount of jobs, some of which included televison work, NSA, Magnavox, NASA, published sci-fi author, Westing House, Bendix, WMAR, and to name a few Lear Ziegler.
He married Mary Cook in 1944, and together they had one daughter, Candy in 1950. They were later divorced in 1967. He then married Diana Best on March 14, 1969 and had David, Scott and Kelly. He was very active in the lives of his children, but sometimes it wasn't always helpful! There was the time he told Candy that pneumonia was actually pronounced P-neunonia, emphasis on the p. And he told me that there was a Whatsamtta U. So I told my sixth grade teacher that that's where I wanted to go. He showed my brothers how to build chlorine bombs, and they used them on me and my friends! But he treated us like people and cared about us. He was actively involved in our lives. He not only loved us, he liked us.
My father was healthy and strong, so it came as a surprise when he suffered a heart attack in 1980 that almost went unnoticed. It would have gone untreated if not for my mother. She took him to the hospital and they put in a pacemaker. For a few years, he had more silent heart attacks. In 1994, his pacemaker went on the fritz and had to be replaced. It was a scary time, but once it was fixed, all was well for a while, until September 2001. After 9/11, when America learned about terror on our own turf, my family learned how short time could be. Dad was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. The doctor told him that he could live the rest of his life with this and Dad found this amusing. We did not. But for a while all seemed well.
Until Memorial Day weekend, 2002. He suffered a stroke. And as they did the CAT scan, they discovered a brain tumor. Doctors gave him six months. We were devastated. He suffered another stroke in October and sadly passed away on November 4th, leaving behind a wife of 34 years and four children who loved him dearly.
He will be missed sorely each and every day by those who were left behind.
Until we see you again . . . save a spot for us in Heaven, Dad.
Died: November 4, 2002: Severna Park, Anne Arundel County, MD
Mother: Mary Catherine Evans
Father: David Kidd Martin
No siblings
David Wesley Martin was born in Coatesville, PA on December 2, 1917 to David Kidd Martin and Mary Catherine Evans. As a young boy, he was inquisitive and often caused his mother to suffer anxiety attacks as he attempted pranks at the urgings of other children. One of these pranks involved sledding down a steep hill directly under a truck, causing the truck driver to veer off the road. Certain that her only child had met his end, and that the truck driver was dead as well, his mother ran out into the road only to find her child grinning from ear to ear and that the driver was sporting decidedly wet pants. My father soon recieved a spanking he never forgot. Another endeavor involved riding his tricycle down a flight of stairs backwards. He managed to crack his head at the bottom of the stairs, which we jokingly told him explained a lot about him. His mother he said, had such a hard time keeping track of him that she often resorted to hanging him on the clothes line as she did her wash. But one of his happiest childhood memories involved his mother reading Greek mythologies to him at bed-time. He loved those stories and often told me about these stories and about her. This is what stuck with him the most. He loved her so much and so it came as a great blow to him when she died prematurely when he was just eight or nine years old. Doctors had misdiagnosed breast cancer. From that day forward, my Dad had a great mistrust of doctors.
Instead of being shipped off to family or an orphanage as so many of his friends had, who had lost mothers, his father merely hired a house keeper and worked extra hours. He told my father that they would have to work together to keep the family intact. Because of this, my Dad had a profound respect for him that lasted throughout my father's life. And work together they did. Literally. My Dad would often tag along on odd jobs, helping out when he could. And it is through these jobs that my father gained an interest in engineering. To do his part, my Dad invented an alarm clock to make sure that he got up in time. The only problem was that it delivered a shock if you didn't get up in time, and since my father was notorious for not getting up when the first alarm when off, he got a mighty nasty shock. After a few shocks, he learned, and from that day forward, he was up before the first alarm ever went off.
Dad attended local schools, where much to his surprise, and I'm sure his father's delight, he was shown to be a genius. The year before his graduation, he blew up the science lab brewing beer and then littered the stage at graduation with bottle caps that exploded when the seniors walked across. Of course everyone knew it was my father, but he used the "I'm still grieving the loss of my Mother, Sir," card and got away with it. He later went on to attend Drexel University where he studied engineering. There, he studied under professors who told him, because of his cavalier attitude that he would never pass. My father had a sense of humor that many just didn't understand. But another thing others didn't get was that one thing you never said to him was things he could and couldn't do. He passed with flying colors and recieved a degree in RF Analog Engineering, something he loved doing, and worked on almost until the day he died. After graduation, he worked a various amount of jobs, some of which included televison work, NSA, Magnavox, NASA, published sci-fi author, Westing House, Bendix, WMAR, and to name a few Lear Ziegler.
He married Mary Cook in 1944, and together they had one daughter, Candy in 1950. They were later divorced in 1967. He then married Diana Best on March 14, 1969 and had David, Scott and Kelly. He was very active in the lives of his children, but sometimes it wasn't always helpful! There was the time he told Candy that pneumonia was actually pronounced P-neunonia, emphasis on the p. And he told me that there was a Whatsamtta U. So I told my sixth grade teacher that that's where I wanted to go. He showed my brothers how to build chlorine bombs, and they used them on me and my friends! But he treated us like people and cared about us. He was actively involved in our lives. He not only loved us, he liked us.
My father was healthy and strong, so it came as a surprise when he suffered a heart attack in 1980 that almost went unnoticed. It would have gone untreated if not for my mother. She took him to the hospital and they put in a pacemaker. For a few years, he had more silent heart attacks. In 1994, his pacemaker went on the fritz and had to be replaced. It was a scary time, but once it was fixed, all was well for a while, until September 2001. After 9/11, when America learned about terror on our own turf, my family learned how short time could be. Dad was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. The doctor told him that he could live the rest of his life with this and Dad found this amusing. We did not. But for a while all seemed well.
Until Memorial Day weekend, 2002. He suffered a stroke. And as they did the CAT scan, they discovered a brain tumor. Doctors gave him six months. We were devastated. He suffered another stroke in October and sadly passed away on November 4th, leaving behind a wife of 34 years and four children who loved him dearly.
He will be missed sorely each and every day by those who were left behind.
Until we see you again . . . save a spot for us in Heaven, Dad.
Born: December 2, 1917: Coastesville, Chester County, PA
Died: November 4, 2002: Severna Park, Anne Arundel County, MD
Mother: Mary Catherine Evans
Father: David Kidd Martin
No siblings
David Wesley Martin was born in Coatesville, PA on December 2, 1917 to David Kidd Martin and Mary Catherine Evans. As a young boy, he was inquisitive and often caused his mother to suffer anxiety attacks as he attempted pranks at the urgings of other children. One of these pranks involved sledding down a steep hill directly under a truck, causing the truck driver to veer off the road. Certain that her only child had met his end, and that the truck driver was dead as well, his mother ran out into the road only to find her child grinning from ear to ear and that the driver was sporting decidedly wet pants. My father soon recieved a spanking he never forgot. Another endeavor involved riding his tricycle down a flight of stairs backwards. He managed to crack his head at the bottom of the stairs, which we jokingly told him explained a lot about him. His mother he said, had such a hard time keeping track of him that she often resorted to hanging him on the clothes line as she did her wash. But one of his happiest childhood memories involved his mother reading Greek mythologies to him at bed-time. He loved those stories and often told me about these stories and about her. This is what stuck with him the most. He loved her so much and so it came as a great blow to him when she died prematurely when he was just eight or nine years old. Doctors had misdiagnosed breast cancer. From that day forward, my Dad had a great mistrust of doctors.
Instead of being shipped off to family or an orphanage as so many of his friends had, who had lost mothers, his father merely hired a house keeper and worked extra hours. He told my father that they would have to work together to keep the family intact. Because of this, my Dad had a profound respect for him that lasted throughout my father's life. And work together they did. Literally. My Dad would often tag along on odd jobs, helping out when he could. And it is through these jobs that my father gained an interest in engineering. To do his part, my Dad invented an alarm clock to make sure that he got up in time. The only problem was that it delivered a shock if you didn't get up in time, and since my father was notorious for not getting up when the first alarm when off, he got a mighty nasty shock. After a few shocks, he learned, and from that day forward, he was up before the first alarm ever went off.
Dad attended local schools, where much to his surprise, and I'm sure his father's delight, he was shown to be a genius. The year before his graduation, he blew up the science lab brewing beer and then littered the stage at graduation with bottle caps that exploded when the seniors walked across. Of course everyone knew it was my father, but he used the "I'm still grieving the loss of my Mother, Sir," card and got away with it. He later went on to attend Drexel University where he studied engineering. There, he studied under professors who told him, because of his cavalier attitude that he would never pass. My father had a sense of humor that many just didn't understand. But another thing others didn't get was that one thing you never said to him was things he could and couldn't do. He passed with flying colors and recieved a degree in RF Analog Engineering, something he loved doing, and worked on almost until the day he died. After graduation, he worked a various amount of jobs, some of which included televison work, NSA, Magnavox, NASA, published sci-fi author, Westing House, Bendix, WMAR, and to name a few Lear Ziegler.
He married Mary Cook in 1944, and together they had one daughter, Candy in 1950. They were later divorced in 1967. He then married Diana Best on March 14, 1969 and had David, Scott and Kelly. He was very active in the lives of his children, but sometimes it wasn't always helpful! There was the time he told Candy that pneumonia was actually pronounced P-neunonia, emphasis on the p. And he told me that there was a Whatsamtta U. So I told my sixth grade teacher that that's where I wanted to go. He showed my brothers how to build chlorine bombs, and they used them on me and my friends! But he treated us like people and cared about us. He was actively involved in our lives. He not only loved us, he liked us.
My father was healthy and strong, so it came as a surprise when he suffered a heart attack in 1980 that almost went unnoticed. It would have gone untreated if not for my mother. She took him to the hospital and they put in a pacemaker. For a few years, he had more silent heart attacks. In 1994, his pacemaker went on the fritz and had to be replaced. It was a scary time, but once it was fixed, all was well for a while, until September 2001. After 9/11, when America learned about terror on our own turf, my family learned how short time could be. Dad was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. The doctor told him that he could live the rest of his life with this and Dad found this amusing. We did not. But for a while all seemed well.
Until Memorial Day weekend, 2002. He suffered a stroke. And as they did the CAT scan, they discovered a brain tumor. Doctors gave him six months. We were devastated. He suffered another stroke in October and sadly passed away on November 4th, leaving behind a wife of 34 years and four children who loved him dearly.
He will be missed sorely each and every day by those who were left behind.
Until we see you again . . . save a spot for us in Heaven, Dad.
Died: November 4, 2002: Severna Park, Anne Arundel County, MD
Mother: Mary Catherine Evans
Father: David Kidd Martin
No siblings
David Wesley Martin was born in Coatesville, PA on December 2, 1917 to David Kidd Martin and Mary Catherine Evans. As a young boy, he was inquisitive and often caused his mother to suffer anxiety attacks as he attempted pranks at the urgings of other children. One of these pranks involved sledding down a steep hill directly under a truck, causing the truck driver to veer off the road. Certain that her only child had met his end, and that the truck driver was dead as well, his mother ran out into the road only to find her child grinning from ear to ear and that the driver was sporting decidedly wet pants. My father soon recieved a spanking he never forgot. Another endeavor involved riding his tricycle down a flight of stairs backwards. He managed to crack his head at the bottom of the stairs, which we jokingly told him explained a lot about him. His mother he said, had such a hard time keeping track of him that she often resorted to hanging him on the clothes line as she did her wash. But one of his happiest childhood memories involved his mother reading Greek mythologies to him at bed-time. He loved those stories and often told me about these stories and about her. This is what stuck with him the most. He loved her so much and so it came as a great blow to him when she died prematurely when he was just eight or nine years old. Doctors had misdiagnosed breast cancer. From that day forward, my Dad had a great mistrust of doctors.
Instead of being shipped off to family or an orphanage as so many of his friends had, who had lost mothers, his father merely hired a house keeper and worked extra hours. He told my father that they would have to work together to keep the family intact. Because of this, my Dad had a profound respect for him that lasted throughout my father's life. And work together they did. Literally. My Dad would often tag along on odd jobs, helping out when he could. And it is through these jobs that my father gained an interest in engineering. To do his part, my Dad invented an alarm clock to make sure that he got up in time. The only problem was that it delivered a shock if you didn't get up in time, and since my father was notorious for not getting up when the first alarm when off, he got a mighty nasty shock. After a few shocks, he learned, and from that day forward, he was up before the first alarm ever went off.
Dad attended local schools, where much to his surprise, and I'm sure his father's delight, he was shown to be a genius. The year before his graduation, he blew up the science lab brewing beer and then littered the stage at graduation with bottle caps that exploded when the seniors walked across. Of course everyone knew it was my father, but he used the "I'm still grieving the loss of my Mother, Sir," card and got away with it. He later went on to attend Drexel University where he studied engineering. There, he studied under professors who told him, because of his cavalier attitude that he would never pass. My father had a sense of humor that many just didn't understand. But another thing others didn't get was that one thing you never said to him was things he could and couldn't do. He passed with flying colors and recieved a degree in RF Analog Engineering, something he loved doing, and worked on almost until the day he died. After graduation, he worked a various amount of jobs, some of which included televison work, NSA, Magnavox, NASA, published sci-fi author, Westing House, Bendix, WMAR, and to name a few Lear Ziegler.
He married Mary Cook in 1944, and together they had one daughter, Candy in 1950. They were later divorced in 1967. He then married Diana Best on March 14, 1969 and had David, Scott and Kelly. He was very active in the lives of his children, but sometimes it wasn't always helpful! There was the time he told Candy that pneumonia was actually pronounced P-neunonia, emphasis on the p. And he told me that there was a Whatsamtta U. So I told my sixth grade teacher that that's where I wanted to go. He showed my brothers how to build chlorine bombs, and they used them on me and my friends! But he treated us like people and cared about us. He was actively involved in our lives. He not only loved us, he liked us.
My father was healthy and strong, so it came as a surprise when he suffered a heart attack in 1980 that almost went unnoticed. It would have gone untreated if not for my mother. She took him to the hospital and they put in a pacemaker. For a few years, he had more silent heart attacks. In 1994, his pacemaker went on the fritz and had to be replaced. It was a scary time, but once it was fixed, all was well for a while, until September 2001. After 9/11, when America learned about terror on our own turf, my family learned how short time could be. Dad was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. The doctor told him that he could live the rest of his life with this and Dad found this amusing. We did not. But for a while all seemed well.
Until Memorial Day weekend, 2002. He suffered a stroke. And as they did the CAT scan, they discovered a brain tumor. Doctors gave him six months. We were devastated. He suffered another stroke in October and sadly passed away on November 4th, leaving behind a wife of 34 years and four children who loved him dearly.
He will be missed sorely each and every day by those who were left behind.
Until we see you again . . . save a spot for us in Heaven, Dad.
