Veteran known for his love of horses

Martin was died on Sunday. He was 78.

Martin’s honesty was just part of the foundation that made his character, said stepdaughter Angie Cox, who was 5 when Shirley and Martin married.

“It isn’t blood that makes a family, it’s a relationship,” she said. “That is what builds a family.”

Martin, who was known to many by his high school nickname “Toes,” loved the Rocky Mountain horses, his wife said. He eventually helped found the Rocky Mountain Horse Association in the late 1980s and was a lifetime member of the Tri-State Rocky Mountain Horse Club.

“He wasn’t a big famous, rich person, but he had good horses and people came from all over to talk to him about horses to get his knowledge,” Angie Cox said.

Martin was born on July 16, 1933, the son of Hiram and Mae Martin in the Peck’s Addition part of Hamilton. He started to work at Champion International Paper in 1952 before being drafted in the Army, where he served during the Korean conflict from 1953 to 1955. He retired from Champion in 1993.

Martin is survived by his son, Martin Mark Martin and stepchildren Jerry Ballard, Angie Cox, Cheryl Tye and Sheila Bowling, brother Delbert Martin, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Brown Dawson Flick Funeral Home, 1350 Millville Ave. The funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Friday at the funeral home and burial will follow at Greenwood Cemetery. Pastor Freddie Helton will officiate.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Rocky Mountain Horse Association, 4037 Iron Works Parkway, Suite 160, Lexington, Ky., 40511.