Martin Leo Obando

I am incredibly saddened at writing this entry for Marty´s memory book. I worked with Marty since 1994 and he had a significant influence on my career and outlook on life. Many people come and go during the course of one´s years here on this planet, however, some are far more memorable than others. Marty was simply unforgettable.

When I started in the roofing industry as a mailroom clerk, Marty was always kind, pleasant and happy to share his knowledge. We struck up a good working relationship and enjoyed being on numerous roofing industry teams over the next 20 years. Marty was the maestro of cedar roofing technical knowledge and everyone in the industry knew it. He had specialty design roofing knowledge and whenever there was a really tough assignment, Marty was the man we´d call to send to the job site in hopes of figuring out a workable solution. He was adept at cedar roofing installation, product grading, crew management and linking weather perils to roof performance. Colleagues called him the `pro from Dover´.

Marty always made me smile. He was generous to a fault, and yes Marty, it was oversharing when you frequently told us all about the brown recluse spider bite on your toe as well as the various pranks you played on nurses when in hospital. I remember one odd phone call where Marty likely should NOT have been given access to a phone so soon after surgery - it was an interesting conversation to say the least.

Later on in life, we enjoyed many philosophical conversations, and Marty always had a lot to share about different cultures, religions and tolerance for other perspectives. He was a deep thinker, committed to his volunteer work and was keen to leave this world a better place. His description of skydiving was that it was "... a terminal velocity-sensation like nothing else ... you hit maximum speed and you´re just floating around ..."

The last time I spoke with Marty was in January 2025 and he was cheerful as ever. We had a great conversation and he ended the call as he always did, "Hey. You sound good. If there´s anything I can ever do for you, you let me know. Bye Bye."

Marty crammed what seemed like four massively full lives inside of one, always being present in the moment and willing to tackle any great adventure that came his way. There will never be another man like him and I am grateful to have known him. I am flattered that Marty called me a trusted friend - earning that title from him was an honor.

Lynne Christensen
Friend and Work Colleague
Canada

I thought Marty's family and friends might appreciate these two photos of him. The first picture is of Marty at a roofing industry meeting. The second is a group photo of roofing industry colleagues: Tom Seely, Lynne Christensen, Patty Wood-Shields and Marty at Patty's home.