Gary Don "Don" Martin

Gary Don Martin, 76, died Saturday, May 10, 2025, at Childress Regional Medical Center.

The visitation for the family will be on Friday, May 16, 2025, from 6-7 PM at Johnson Funeral Home. The worship service celebrating Don's life will be at 10 AM on Saturday, May 17, 2025, at Childress Methodist Church with Rev. Louis Ellerbrook, Rev. Monty Barnett, and Rev. Randy Wilson officiating, with interment at Childress Cemetery following.

Gary Don was born January 11, 1949, in Childress, Texas, to Homerd Lester and Grace Bell (Kindle) Martin, the youngest of their three children.

Growing up in Childress, Don was a member of the Boneheads, worked many long days on the farm, and began dating a cute freshman who caught his eye, Paulette Dorman. He graduated from Childress High School in 1967 and attended West Texas State University in Canyon. He worked his way through college by helping his uncle, Troy Martin, owner of the Canyon News, put the paper out each week. He graduated in 1972 from WT with a degree in Secondary Education certified to teach History. He and Paulette married on September 2, 1972, in Childress.

He took a job after graduation with the Burlington, Northern, & Santa Fe Railroad where he worked on the engineering crew in Vernon and then became a pipefitter in the shop with his father-in-law, Paul Dorman. At the end of 11 years, the Childress shop was shut down, and Don worked for Lancer and then UPS before he took over a sales route with Tom's Snacks. This was a rewarding season, but he struggled with inventory control at the hands of his favorite customers (his two young daughters), so he took a job at West Texas Utilities. During his time with WTU, and later AEP, he repaired numerous appliances in Childress, drove many miles reading and maintaining meters, and trimmed trees out of the powerlines across the area. He also spent countless stormy nights walking out power lines looking for the outages. After 22 years, Don was downsized from AEP and became a probation officer with the 100th Judicial District. He used his 11 years there to share many life lessons with folks and was respected deeply for his kindness, his wisdom, and his jokes always at the ready. A farmer through and through, and highly resistant to travel more than a day's journey from his land, Don's retirement afforded him more time to pull up stumps and fight with moles at the farm he had cultivated through the years. Don was built to be a loving and wise father. An excellent grandfather to four grandchildren, he leaves behind a legacy of wisdom, quiet strength, and a heart full of joy.

Don was preceded in death by his parents and multiple in-laws and step-siblings. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Paulette, his two daughters, Ashley Barnett (Monty), and Amy Martin (Mike), his four grandchildren, Hannah, Caleb, and Hope Barnett, and Azelie Ryan, his brothers H.L. Martin (Edith) and Doug Seal (Wyvonne), his sister Betty Martin, and his brother-in-law Gary Don Dorman (Janiece) as well as numerous nieces, nephews, neighbors and friends.

In lieu of flowers, the family would be honored if gifts in Don's memory supported the Childress Methodist Church, Meals On Wheels of Childress, or the Childress County Heritage Museum.