Donald Robert Martin Died the afternoon of September 26, 2017, one year and 12 hours after his wife, Zada, in Westminster, Colorado, surrounded by family.
Beloved husband of Zada Ellen Ostergaard Martin for nearly 65 years Father of Ellen Myrtle, Beth Agnes and Bruce Frederick. Grandfather of Katlyn Beth and Erika Christine Cuilla.
Don was born October 4, 1924 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to Henry Taylor Martin and Catherine Agnes Schelletter Martin, the middle of three children: older brother John Henry Albert Taylor and a younger brother Harry Frederick, who died in 2010. Don and his family moved to Detroit, Michigan, USA, when he was only 18 months old. They survived the Great Depression in Detroit. When Don was 12 years old, he and John became paperboys for three Detroit Newspapers, contributing significantly to the family income and learning business sense and self-reliance that stood him in good stead his entire life.
Don enlisted in the US Navy in 1944, and trained as a gunner and pilot. Fortunately, WWII ended before he saw combat. After the war, he became an airplane mechanic for Eastern Airlines, and then, through his brother-i...[more]
aw Gene Ostergaard, embarked on a very successful career in tool and die design, starting at Harig Industries in Chicago. He also taught metallurgy and tool & die design for Prosser Vocational High School. Joining the National Can Company in 1970, Don advanced through engineering positions, contributing to key patents for 2-piece drawn-and-iron can manufacture and traveling around the world to install and troubleshoot can factories.
He met Zada Ostergaard through John, whose wife Irma was Zada's roommate at nursing school. Don and Zada married December 30, 1951. Ellen was born in 1953, Bruce in 1955, and Beth in 1960 and all grew up in the prairie flood plains of Rolling Meadows, Illinois. The annual family camping vacations are fondly remembered as we traveled by automobile to many offbeat locales around Illinois, Indiana, the Great Lakes and the Appalachian Mountains, with Don driving us past Burma Shave signs and facilitating family interests in natural science.
In 1987, Don and Zada retired to Washington Island, Wisconsin, where they had purchased lakefront property in 1967 and built a vacation home in 1977. Don and Zada participated in the local Coast Guard Auxiliary, the Scottish Games and the Burns Supper, where Don cut a dapper figure in full kilt. In 1998, they moved to Loveland, Colorado, close to Beth, her husband Chris Cuilla, and their daughters Katlyn and Erika. In Loveland, Don and Zada celebrated their 50th and 60th wedding anniversaries (2001, 2011), surrounded by children, in-laws and grandchildren.
In 2012, Don & Zada moved south to be closer to Beth and her family, first to Highland Trails and then in 2014 to Keystone Assisted Living in Westminster, Colorado. After Zada died, Don continued to live in his Keystone apartment, until loss, old age and lung disease finally caught up with him. The family is especially grateful to the compassionate and caring Keystone and Hospice staff, who helped him through his last days. He was still kidding with the staff the day he died.
Don is survived by all three children and two grandchildren, as well as his brother John.
In lieu of a memorial service, please visit his memorial Facebook page.
To read the full obituary, please click here: http://www.kibbeyfishburn.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=4413030&fh_id=13239