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Robert L. Martin July 14th 1919 - December 23rd 2014 |
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Dr. Robert Leonard Martin, 95, of Portland, Oregon, died at home in the company of family and friends Tuesday Dec. 23rd, 2014. He was born to Leonard Alexander and Elizabeth Martin, July 14th, 1919, in Seattle, Washington. In his childhood years he lived with his family in Seattle, Washington; Forest Grove and Portland, Oregon; Vancouver,Wenatchee, Taylor, and Renton all in Washington. |
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Robert graduated from Renton High School in 1937 and received a full scholarship to attend Reed College in Portland, Oregon where he obtained a BA in 1941. He was a teaching fellow at University of Washington for a year followed by a year as a graduate assistant at Iowa State College. From 1943 to 1946 he served his country as a conscientious objector working on the land reclamation project near Trenton, North Dakota. He was a teaching fellow and research assistant at University of Michigan from 1946 to 1956 where he obtained his PhD in physics with his thesis concerning "theory and experiments about Photographic Latent Image Formation". From 1956 to 1962 he taught at Reed College then in 1962 Lewis and Clark College until his retirement in 1985. After retirement he remained active in a Reed College laboratory which he shared with Dr. Jean Delord studying properties of metal in a vacuum (the metals were in the vacuum .. he was not in the vacuum). He met Roberta Pruitt (1915 - 2005) in Seattle in 1936 and they were married as soon as young Robert could convince her. They were wedded in 1946. They moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan that year where three of their children, Craig, Laura and Chris were born. They attended the Quaker Friends Meeting in Ann Arbor and continued that tradition after they moved to Portland, Oregon in 1956. In Portland their their fourth child, Doug, was born, so they stopped having children. In 1981 they moved to Willamette View Manor in Milwaukie, Oregon to "retire" but kept quite active in the community. Robert Martin was also an accomplished musician. He won numerous awards in high school for performance on B♭ clarinet and tenor saxophone. Later in life he developed a fine tenor voice performing in local musicals, operas, and choral groups. He and his wife Roberta shared a great love for music. Music became an important part of their family life. Robert L. Martin is survived by three sons, one daughter and two daughter-in-laws: Craig Martin and wife Beth of Ashland, Oregon; Laura Martin of Port Townsend, Washington; Christopher Martin of Portland, Oregon; Douglas Martin and wife Marcela of Olympia, Washington. He also is survived by four grandchildren: Wendy, Joanna, Nancy and Amiel; and his sister Doris Beedle of Vancouver, Washington. Dr. Martin requested that donations be made to the American Friends Service Committee or to Heifer Project International. A memorial service will be held Saturday, February 28th at 1:00 p.m. at Kairos Milwaukie United Church of Christ. Everyone is invited to stay after the service for story and music sharing. |
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