Emery Eugene Martin 

Born: September 6th, 1937 .  Died: January 18th,  2023.

Emery Eugene Martin, 85, of Nipomo, CA passed away on January 18th, 2023.  Gene was born in Brush, Colorado on September 6th, 1937. He moved with his family to Arroyo Grande where he lived for 25 years. Gene attended Arroyo Grande High School and then Junior College at Alan Hancock in Santa Maria where he was a very talented shooting guard for both high school and college basketball teams. 

In 1958, Gene was drafted into the army where he scored so high on his admission tests that while  everyone else went to basic training Gene was sent to Washington State for further testing. Gene then found himself headed to Okinawa to do math problems for the army to figure out how to drop leaflets from a hot air balloon where they would land in an exact location taking in the land, wind, and weather coordinates. Gene often spoke about his time in Okinawa and always expressed that it was one of the best moments of his life. After his time in the service, Gene then furthered his studies and received a masters degree in applied mathematics at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where he documented his time oversees for his senior project which is still recorded in the archives today.

In 1965, while Gene was working as an Engineer at Vandenberg Air Force Base and carpooling to work with a group of friends, he met his future wife from Saskatchewan, Canada, Jane Malcolm Coles. After joining a bowling league together and dating for 7 short months, they were married and then relocated to Huntington Beach, CA where he his wife Jane and their two children, Shelli and Ryan, were raised and lived for almost 35 years. When Gene and Jane retired they bought a home back where they met in the Central Coast of California in the Black Lakes Golf Course Community. Jane sadly passed of cancer in 2008 and Gene lived out his remaining  years with a wonderful community of family and friends who loved him. 

Gene loved watching basketball, tennis, volleyball and playing golf, which he played religiously up until the day before he passed. Gene was also an excellent competitive bridge player although he only participated in because of Jane’s love of the game.

Gene is survived by his daughter, Shelli Rohr, his son-in-law Jim Rohr, and their 3 children, Chloe, Cole and Sophie Rohr. He is also survived by his son Ryan Martin, his daughter-in-law Delaine Yates-Martin and their 2 children Emery June and Aven West Martin.

Gene was preceded in death by his wife Jane Malcolm Martin and his parents Frank and Virginia Martin, sisters Elaine and Patricia.

A celebration of life will be held sometime this Summer and details will be to follow. 

In lieu of flowers the family requests contributions to St Jude Children’s Hospital at www.stjude.org

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