I got the call from his wife Terry this morning. Last March Marty and Terry retired from their respective jobs in the Broomfield area and moved to the Seattle area to build their dream retirement house. One month later Marty got sick, stopped eating and such. Pancreatic cancer. He fought it off better than doctors expected, which was no surprise to me, knowing how positive Marty was regarding life.
Many here might know Marty from being that amateur photographer on the sidelines for almost three decades. His last game was senior night last season. While the Dude was getting ejected, Marty was getting a scoreboard "thank you" tribute.literally at the same time
Marty's roots are from Arkansas and Orange County-Socal..he could tell stories about squirrel hunting and driving a big rig through the grapevine. He loved Vin Scully. He was a big rig truck driver for 30 years or so..I would work with him from time to time to make extra money, loading/unloading the truck. I even went on a couple road trips in the rig to see what the trucking life was like.The last was 15-20 or so years ago, I met him In Las Vegas, he got me a sideline pass..again..and we watched the Rams beat UNLV. The next day I went to the Broncos vs Chargers game in San Diego. He and I met via my managing Pasta Jays in old town. We actually met in Boulder, but he followed me up to Ft Collins. While at Pasta Jays we got the deal to be a food provider for the CSU football/sports teams training table. This is how he and I met Sonny, the staff and players. It led me to getting my degree from CSU. Marty quickly became friends with Ozello and Ehlers among others and was invited to be a part of the unofficial sideline program. Every game my friends and I would play-where's Marty as we tried to find him on the sidelines on tv or live/in person. He fancied himself a photographer, and that was his ticket to games. He has shared hundreds of his photo's with staff and players. One player even made a t-shirt of one of his pics of him. My favorite photo of him, is from the New Mexico Bowl. When whoever was diving for the pylon and the winning TD. There's a pic from behind the end zone looking up the sideline. Players and staff are all leaning out to see if he scores. Marty is one of the people leaning out. I wish I had that photo nowsorry..this is hard to write
He and I went to concerts, Rockies, nuggets and of course CSU games together for close to 30 years. He met his wife Terry as teenagers, but they moved away from each other. They met again 20+ years later and the love was re-kindled and they got married. They grew together through some rough times. Terry's two oldest sons died in a tragic accident. She is doing well as far as I know. She has a support group driving/flying in and a memorial is planned for later, maybe in the spring.
Sorry this is a ramble, I just got the news. He was one of my closest friends in life. He was a great Ram supporter. I was going to drive up and visit him this week, as I have some time off from work. Last time we visited was the Michigan game. He and Terry have a rental in Port Orchard with amazing views of the /sound and downtown Seattle. They just closed on the dream retirement house on Thursday and were set to move this week and such.
He originally had asked to keep his cancer diagnosis news quiet, but now It's time for everyone that knew him, to know. He will be missed. I'm a bit of mess right now..But I felt like people should be made aware. Marty, I miss you..woo pig sooey..Go Rams!!!
[Post edited by Hopsblues at 12/26/2022 5:15PM]