Catching up with the Martins

My Mother comes from a family of 7 kids, all originally with the sirname Martin. Recently my Mother's older brother's wife passed away at about 93 years of age. Susan and I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to re-connect with Martin Aunts Uncles, and Cousins.

We went down to Lemoore, CA and stayed at the Casino Friday night. We then went over to Visalia for the service. My Mother's youngest Brother is a minister in Corcoran, CA and was to perform the graveside service. We arrived at the cemetary and found a bench to sit and wait for the family to arrive. I had not seen many of my Cousins since the late 1960's.

Our family left the Kings County area in the early 1950s. We first moved to the Emigrant Gap area between Sacramento and Reno on Old Route 40. My Dad and 3 of his siblings and their spouses moved to the area to operate a logging and sawmill operation. In about 1959 they sold the mill and the timber and my Mom and Dad moved to a 560 acre ranch in Meridian, CA.

Back to Visalia. My Mother, Donna May Martin, had 5 brothers and one sister. The sister has just recently returned to the area from a 15 year life in South Dakota and was at the service. My Mother had 4 children of which three survive. Don, Tommy, Kathy, and Ginger. Kathy passed away in the late 1970s. The oldest brother Rollin Martin had three children, Kevin, Nancy and Darren. All were present at thier Mother's service. The next oldest brother was Lewis. He also had 3 children , Debbie, Steven and Marty. Steven and Marty were present. The next brother was L.I. Martin Jr., always called Junior. Junior had three chidren, Mark, Jennine and Jackie. Two survive and neither were at the service. The next brother is David. David was present and I think I was told that he was accompainied by a son. I believe he had both a son and a daughter who recently passed away. My mother's only sister is Lucretia. She had four children. Renee, Meriam, Carole, and Jason. Rene was present with her mother at the service. The youngest brother would be John, the minister. He had 3 girls, two were twins. The youngest still lives with John and his wife Bernice and her daughter Johnnie in Corcoran, CA.

After the service the family was invited to the home of Darren Martin, the youngest son of the deceased Aunt. We had a long overdue visit with cousins and met new spouses and children of my cousins.

A long overdue visit with my Mother's side of the family.