Martin Broomall Biles

Martin Broomall Biles

NAPLES, FL

Martin passed peacefully on August 25, 2017 in Houston, Texas at the age of 98. He lived a long and rich life filled with personal satisfactions and achievements. He was much loved by his two daughters, Marti Biles Masini of Milan, Italy, and Jami Biles Jones of Houston, Texas, sons-in-law Mario Masini and Benny Harris, grandchildren Susanna Rosa Masini and Joshua Martin Degges, daughter-in-law Brandy Gaskamp Degges, and great grandson Wyatt Martin Degges.

He was born in San Diego, California on March 30, 1919 to Herbert Elmore and Anna Elizabeth (Broomall) Biles. He attended the University of California at Berkeley where he earned his BS and MS in Engineering, and after WWII continued his studies to earn a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering at North Carolina State University.

At Cal he was a star athlete where he was the AAU javelin champion in 1943-44, after winning the NCAA javelin title in 1940-41. He represented the United States in the first post war Olympics held in London in 1948 in the Javelin event. He was also a wonderful and enthusiastic golfer and won more than one Thanksgiving turkey with a well-calculated hole-in-one.

After being discharged from the Air Force with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel he worked for the Atomic Energy Commission until retirement in 1977 with the title of Director of Operational Safety. In this capacity he also served as Scientific Attaché with the US Embassies in Brussels and Paris.

He lived in Kensington, Md. for 40 years with his first wife, Francis Lee Kennedy and daughters before moving in 2001 to Naples with Lee who died in 2002. He lived in Naples until a few weeks before his death with his second wife Virginia McIntyre who predeceased him in June 2017. He also leaves two stepdaughters Susan Norman and Kate Powell in the Washington, D.C. area of whom he was very fond.

He was much loved and will be much missed.

An inurnment ceremony will be held at Arlington National Cemetery at a time to be determined.