William N. Martin

GREENSBORO - William Nelson Martin died on Friday, April 6, 2007, at his residence in Greensboro.

Funeral services for the Honorable William Nelson Martin will be held at 1 p.m. on Thursday, April 12, . at Providence Baptist Church. The church is located at 1106 Tuscaloosa St., Greensboro, N.C. 27406.

He was the son of Thomas William Martin and Caroline Evelyn Martin of Eden (formerly Leaksville), Rockingham County. After the passing of Bill's mother, his father married Jeanette Stratton Greene who became a loving stepmother. He attended public school in Stoneville, Madison and Eden, having graduated from Douglas High School in Eden. He attended and graduated from North Carolina A&T State University in 1966 with a B. S. Degree in Economics. Following a period of employment in Bridgeport, Connecticut with IBM and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, he attended the George Washington University School of Law in Washington, DC from which he received his Juris Doctor degree. He was subsequently admitted to the District of Columbia Bar and the North Carolina Bar. He began law practice in 1974 with the Frye & Johnson Law Firm.

Bill was a member of Providence Baptist Church in Greensboro, where he served in various capacities including member of the Usher Board, the Budget Committee and the Trustee Board. Bill Martin was a shining example of a political figure who consistently sought to promote the well-being of his constituents. After an unsuccessful race for a seat in the North Carolina House of Representatives, Bill Martin set his sights on the Senate. Bill was first elected to the North Carolina Senate in 1982 and served his first term from 1983 through 1984. He was re-elected for each successive two-year term through the 2001-2002 term. He did not run for re-election because he decided to seek election to the then newly formed 13th congressional district. He was not successful in that quest.

Bill was instrumental in shaping public policy on a number of issues. The one that was most challenging to his political career was spearheading the effort to unify the Guilford County, Guilford City and High Point City school systems into one unified system, resulting in the one that exists today. Bill sat on boards, chaired commissions and standing committees all dealing in areas such as Education, Human Services, Health Care, Civil Rights and Government Reorganization. To highlight just a few, he chaired the Senate Appropriation Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, Higher Education, Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government and the Government Performance Audit Committee. He also served as chair on the Study Commission for Improving Academic Achievement for Minority and At-risk Students, the Services Subcommittee of the Joint Legislative Mental Health Oversight Commission and the Joint Legislative Public Assistance Commission. He served as chairman of the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus, and the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus Foundation, the Human Services Committee of the National Conference of State Legislators Assembly on Federal Issues. He served as a board member of the Public School Policy Forum of North Carolina; the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Historical Foundation and co-founder and former board member of One Step Further, Inc. (Guilford County Mediation Center, and Sentencing Alternatives Center). He also served as a board member of the National Black Child Development Institute, the Triad Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation. He was also a member of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity and held various local chapter offices.

In his leisure time, Bill enjoyed activities with his loving wife, Patricia Yancey. He also liked to listen to jazz and blues music, performing and admiring photography and painting, working on his computer and keeping up with modern technology. He enjoyed keeping his friends and family updated on current events. He loved to study history and researched his own family history back to and including the period of slavery.

Bill is survived by Patricia Yancey, his wife and a native of Henderson; and two adult twin sons from his first marriage, Thomas W. Martin and William N. Martin Jr., who live in Washington, DC and Middletown, R.I. respectively. He is also survived by his stepsister, Emmie Greene Spencer; his cousin, Eloise Martin; his long-time friend, Judson Jones; godson and goddaughter, Damon Maurice Smith and Julia Ivy Chavis respectively; and many other close relatives and friends.

A family visitation will occur from 12 noon until 12:45 p.m. at the church.

Because of construction at the church, parking is limited. Individuals attending the service are encouraged to car pool.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to one of the following charities: The Sickle Cell Disease Association of the Piedmont, P.O. Box 20964, Greensboro, N.C. 27401 or 1102 East Market Street, Greensboro, N.C. 27401; 1-336-274-1507 1-800-733-8297; Charlotte Hawkins Brown Historical Foundation, P.O. Box C, Sedalia, N.C. 27342 or 6136 Burlington Road, Sedalia, N.C. 27342; The Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity's William Martin Scholarship, P.O. Box 20722, Greensboro, N.C. 27420.

Funeral services are entrusted to Perry J. Brown Funeral Home, 909 East Market Street, Greensboro, N.C. 27401.

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This obituary was originally published in the News Record.