Lester F. Martin Jr.

Lifespan: January 30, 1948 – April 16, 2011

Summary

Born January 30, 1948 in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin to Lester E. and Lila (Rickel) Martin. Married Cathy Petty on July 4, 1970. Raised two daughters, Christy and Sarah, in the Townsend/Hobart area of northeastern Wisconsin. Worked with his hands — woodworking was a lifelong hobby, alongside hunting, fishing, jigsaw puzzles, cards, and berry picking at the family’s cabin up north. A man of strong Christian faith. Died April 16, 2011 at Bellin Hospital, Green Bay, after a fight with cancer, age 63. Buried at Forest Home Cemetery, Townsend, Wisconsin.

Relationship to Don

First cousin once removed (1C1R) — Les was Don’s mother Betty Mae’s first cousin. Both descend from Gerald Martin Sr. + Hazel Mielke through siblings Helen (Don’s grandmother) and Lester Sr. (Don’s great-uncle).

Lineage:

• Don’s line: Gerald Martin Sr. → Helen Martin → Betty Mae Schmidt → Don
• Les’s line: Gerald Martin Sr. → Lester E. Martin Sr. → Lester F. Martin Jr.

Personal note

Les and Cathy were part of the Krumpos family’s “inner circle” — over to the house regularly for dinner and cards. Their daughters Christy and Sarah came along often as kids; in later years, mostly Sarah came with Les and Cathy. The relationship spanned both home and church.

Royal Rangers Commander. Les led Don’s Royal Rangers troop for a couple of years — the Assemblies of God boys’ program (analog to Boy Scouts, with a faith dimension). A direct mentor relationship during Don’s boyhood.

The reason the Krumpos family attended Central Assembly of God. Les and Cathy were already members; the Krumpos family started attending because of them. Weekly church contact through the 1980s. This is a significant strand in Don’s religious formation and worth its own memoir chapter eventually.

Memoir hook (for later chapter)

The Les/Cathy → Central Assembly of God thread is a meaningful entry point into Don’s evangelical Protestant childhood. Threads to develop:

• Family-tie-as-faith-vector (relatives as the bridge into a particular church culture)
• Royal Rangers as boyhood formation under Les’s specific mentorship
• The contrast between Hazel’s Christian Science roots (1931) and the family’s later evangelical AG affiliation — and Les as the human hinge of that shift in Don’s branch
• Carol and Jerry Wilmet (Les’s sister + brother-in-law) also at Central Assembly — a wider family-church overlap worth noting
• “Cousins of some kind” — the lived ambiguity of extended family at church, before genealogy was tracked precisely

Relationships

• Father: Lester E. Martin Sr. (Don’s great-uncle) — d. before 2011
• Mother: Lila (Rickel) Martin — d. before 2011
• Wife: Cathy (Petty) Martin — m. July 4, 1970. Daughter of Ken Petty (d. before 2011) and Grace Petty.
• Children:
  • Christy Martin (m. Doug Herman) — children: Tyler Herman, Brian Herman
  • Sarah Martin (m. Shawn Selissen) — children: Mason Selissen; also Kaitlyn Martin (per obit, listed under Martin surname — possibly Christy’s or Sarah’s child by another union, or unmarried)
• Siblings (all children of Lester Sr. + Lila):
  • Carol (m. Jerry Wilmet)
  • Wendy (m. Randy Braun)
  • Mary Kay (m. Bob Raasch)
  • Charles (m. Betty)
  • Gary (m. Wendy)
  • Dan (m. Marie)
  • Paul
• In-laws:
  • Grace Petty (mother-in-law) — surviving as of 2011
  • Dale Petty (brother-in-law, m. Darlene)
  • Ken Petty (father-in-law) — d. before 2011

Sources

• Obituary, April 2011 — primary source. Full text at sources/obituaries/lester-f-martin-jr-2011.md.

Research Notes

Middle initial discrepancy

• Deceased: Lester F. Martin, Jr.
• Parents per same obituary: “Lester E. and Lila (Rickel) Martin”
• Existing archive records the father as “Lester E. Martin Sr.” (consistent with Hazel’s 1987 obit)
• A “Sr./Jr.” pair with different middle initials is unusual — strict naming would require identical middle names. Possibilities:
  1. Newspaper typo (most likely — single-letter errors are extremely common in obituary transcription)
  2. Family used “Jr.” informally despite middle initial difference
  3. Father was Lester F., not Lester E. (would require correcting earlier records)
• Tentative call: trust the established “Lester E.” for the father; flag this for cleanup if a better source surfaces (gravestone, marriage record, census).

Religion shift across generations

• Gerald Martin Sr.’s 1931 funeral was Christian Science.
• Hazel later remarried (Clarence Lau) and the family appears to have moved away from Christian Science.
• Les’s funeral was at Woodland Worship Center, Hobart — a non-denominational Christian church. “Strong faith in God” framed evangelically in the obituary.
• A trajectory worth noting if tracing the family’s religious life: Christian Science (1931) → mainstream/evangelical Protestant (2011).

Cabin “up north”

• Northern Wisconsin cabin culture is a strong family thread — worth noting if Don’s memoir touches on it. Townsend itself is in Oconto County, on the southern edge of the Northwoods. The cabin may have been the family gathering point.

Geographic clustering

• Born Sturgeon Bay (where his grandparents Gerald Sr. + Hazel lived)
• Buried Townsend (where his parents lived)
• Funeral at Hobart (Green Bay suburb)
• Died at Bellin (Green Bay)
• The family’s center of gravity shifted from Door County to the Green Bay/Townsend corridor over Lester Sr.’s lifetime.

Next steps

• Find Lila (Rickel) Martin’s parents — Rickel surname not yet in archive.
• Find Lester Sr.’s death date and burial — likely Forest Home Cemetery, Townsend, alongside or near Les Jr.
• Confirm Kaitlyn Martin’s parentage (the only grandchild listed under the Martin surname in Les’s obit).