In tribute: Lynn Martin: Loved to laugh, always joyful

The word kind likely wouldn't cut it when it comes to Lynn Martin, according to his children, Connie Patterson and Gary Martin.

"My dad was absolutely an amazing person," Patterson said. "He was a leader in every sense of the word. He was someone who was extremely honest in every sense of the word. He always saw the good in everyone, no matter who they were or where they came from."

Martin died on Sept. 11 in Clovis at 96 years old.

People were always important to Martin, Patterson said.

"He had a way of making everyone feel important," she said. "My cousin told me once that with many people in life, they know you, but they don't 'see' you, but he said that my dad always saw him for who he was. I think that was one of my dad's talents is that he really saw people for who they were, and he cared about them."

Patterson said her dad had a difficult childhood in which he and his siblings were the primary bread winners for their family, and there were times of homelessness.

Gary Martin said when he and his father were looking at a picture of a dugout in the ground once, his father commented that it reminded him of a place he had lived for a while during his childhood.

"I was always amazed with his upbringing that he made so much of his life, but maybe it's because of that that he became the man that he did," Patterson said. "Out of everyone I've ever known my entire life, I've never known anyone who demonstrated the love of Christ more than he did. He would pick people up off the street and bring them to the house and give them work and give them a few bucks for it."

Martin served in the U.S. Marine Corps, and along with being an active member of his community and the Baptist church, Martin worked at First Federal Savings & Loan for 33 years, rising to executive vice president and a seat on the board of directors.

During this time, he also received the designation of Senior Residential Appraiser (SRA).

Later in life, Martin owned his own real estate company, Martin Realty, which made the "corniest" commercials in the early '90s that are still famous in the local area to this day, according to Patterson. In one of the commercials, people were dressed up like secret agents and would say, "I'm not a secret agent. I'm a real estate agent."

"They were horrible," laughed Patterson. "But he became a little bit of a local celebrity from those commercials. People talked about that for a long time. We even played one of them at his (funeral) service."

And as busy as their dad was with his work and community involvement, he always took time to spend quality time with them, said his two children.

Gary Martin said he has many fond memories of playing catch with his dad, and he has a fond memory of fishing with him in his later years when he came to visit Gary while he was living in Lake Jacksonville, Texas. He said his dad had been struggling with how to use his fishing pole.

"The last time we were out, he caught this little fish, and he looked at me and grinned really big, and said, 'I think I finally got the hang of it,'" Martin said with a chuckle.

One of his favorite pastimes in his later years was going to breakfast at IHOP when Patterson and her husband, Dan, came to visit him from their home in Sandia Park.

"He loved being around people and talking to them and having fun with them. He loved to laugh; he was very joyful," she said.

"You didn't want to be around us when we were over at IHOP having breakfast," she added with a laugh, saying her dad and husband would sing songs at the table, making up "ridiculous words as they went."

"I think they tried to outdo each other with the craziest thing they can come up with," she said.

Dan Patterson said he and his father in law always jested with each other about their former military careers, with Patterson having served in the Navy.

"I'd tell him it's too bad he couldn't pass the entrance exam to the Navy, so he had to settle for the Marines. And he would just say, 'Well, I just thank the Navy for providing the Marines with chauffeur services.' We always joked like that."

Dan Patterson said Martin's dementia progressed in later years. He would sing him the Marines Hymn to "bring him back around again."

"I would sing him the Marines Hymn, and he would always come around no matter what stage he was in," Patterson said.

"It was his anchor of sorts," added Connie.

Connie Patterson said she and Dan were able to be with her father when he died.

"The night we got in, and we were holding his hand and talking to him, when Dan sang the Marine Corps hymn, his eyelids fluttered, so I knew he recognized that and was trying to respond to it," she said.

And how appropriate that the Marines Hymn was her father's anchor, said Connie, because nothing described her father better than the term Semper Fi, meaning "always loyal."