Robert Dwayne Martin

Robert Dwayne Martin ("Dwayne") passed away Monday, September 1, 2025, at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community. He was born November 8, 1943 at Rockingham Memorial Hospital in Harrisonburg, Virginia, the son of Robert Wenger Martin and Mabel Berkey Martin.

In October of 1955, his parents were killed in a plane crash near New Market, Virginia. After the accident, Margaret Martin Weaver, his aunt, and her husband John W. Weaver raised him and his sister, Helen, in their home in Delaware City, Delaware.

Dwayne attended Park School until moving to Delaware in 1955. He graduated from Delaware City High School in 1962. He attended Eastern Mennonite College and received a BS in Biology upon graduating in 1966. Dwayne received an MS degree in Entomology and Ecology from Delaware State University in 1969, and an MS degree in Computer Science from James Madison University in 1994.

On August 19, 1969 he married Patricia Ann Hooley who survives. He is also survived by his sister, Helen Martin Harman; his two children, Kristina Blackthorn and Wendell Martin, and his three grandchildren, Rein Martin, David Michael Martin-Baker, and Weyland Blackthorn.

Dwayne and his wife, Pat, served as teachers in Botswana, Africa under Mennonite Central Committee from 1969-1975. After their service, they returned to Harrisonburg, Virginia where Dwayne worked at several Biology-related jobs including as Lab Director at Rockingham Poultry in Timberville, Virginia. After receiving an MS degree in Computer Science at JMU he worked for Rosetta Stone, CMDS, Jenzabar, and JMU until he retired in 2011.

He will be remembered for his adventurous, sometimes dramatic, and consistently unique way of looking at the world. He was a rare friend to many, a champion to the misunderstood and downtrodden, and a fearless voice of kindness throughout his life.

Dwayne loved the out-doors. He was a member of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club and the Headwaters division of the Virginia Master Naturalists and volunteered at the JMU Arboretum. He was always on the lookout for new plants to put in his garden and was generous in sharing them with neighbors and friends. Bugs, spiders, and dogs also received his special attention.

Dwayne was a member of the Shenandoah Choral Society for several years. He was a long-time member of Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

A celebration of life will be held at the end of December.