William Rotenbury Martin

1932 - 2017

William Rotenbury Martin

Knoxville, TN

William Rotenbury Martin went to be with the Lord, April 23rd, 2017, in Knoxville, TN. Born September 4th, 1932, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He was educated and served as a choir boy at Saint John the Divine Episcopal School on Manhattan Island in New York City, and furthered his education at Watkinson School in Hartford, Connecticut. He spent his teenage summers as a crewman sailing schooners in the Long Island Sound, and body surfing the shores of Atlantic City. He later attended John Hopkins University, where he met his lifelong love, Janice DeHaven, and trained as a Radiologic Technologist. He proudly served his country for four years as a member of the United States Air Force, where he applied the training he had received at John Hopkins. After discharge from the service, he attended the University of Alabama on the G.I. Bill where he received his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. Upon receiving his degree, he was hired by General Electric in Huntsville, Alabama, as a Computer Systems Programmer, where he collaborated with NASA on the Space Program in support of the Apollo Project. During this time, he worked on Project Mercury to calculate successful rocket launches during the infancy of our nation's moon program. Later on, he transitioned into mainframe computer marketing for General Electric, Honeywell, Digital Equipment, and Sprint. At the end of his career he came full circle, reactivating his Radiologic Technology license, and spent more than two decades serving patients at Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge, TN. During the entire preceding period, he maintained a lifelong passion for model railroading with indoor Lionel and outdoor LGB garden railways. He was an avid board gamesman, with a preference for those that contained strategic depth, as well as a classic movie collector, with a particular interest in World War II cinema. He found great joy in the trails of The Great Smokey Mountains, and the waters of Santa Rosa Beach, FL. He seemed to be at his happiest hosting family gatherings, where he served as the officiator of countless games of Bingo, Chess, Ross, and horseshoes.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Allen Bernard Martin and Marion Brown Martin, of Stamford, Connecticut. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Janice Dean DeHaven Martin; his two sons, Wayne Allen Martin and his wife, Cathy, of Leesburg, FL; Jeffrey Dean Martin and his wife, Kimberly, of Raleigh, NC; and daughter, Karen Martin Torrey and her husband, Charles, of Charlotte, NC; his brother, Allen Bernard Martin, Jr. and his wife, Simone, of Galloway, NJ, and their daughters; as well as 6 grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren (and counting)...

Graveside services will be held Wednesday, April, 26, 2017, at 1:00 PM. The family will gather at the Graveside of Berry Highland Memorial. Family and friends may leave their condolences at www.HighlandMemorialknoxville.com.