Marvin Sherwin Martin, 87, passed away on February 2, 2023 at Grande Prairie Nursing Facility in Pleasant Prairie, WI. He was born in Hot Springs, SD on September 26, 1935, son of Paul E. Martin and Grace Moss Martin (Lash).
Martin's paternal grandfather was U.S. Rep. Eben W. Martin (R-SD); his maternal grandfather was Marvin S. Moss of Kenosha, WI and Toronto, an executive with the American Brass Company.
Marvin had two brothers, Jack and Dick Berry, from his mother's first marriage, and two stepbrothers: George and Bill Martin.
Marvin spent his childhood in Hot Springs and Denver; and his adolescence in Kenosha, WI, where he graduated with honors from Bradford High School and was a champion debater and public speaker.
He worked at WLIP Radio Station in Kenosha and Taylor Children's Home in Racine. He was a founding volunteer for the United Youth Project.
Martin graduated from Northwestern University in 1957 and, after training as a US Army Medic, spent six years in the Illinois National Guard. He was briefly married during college but had no children.
From 1956 to 1996, Marvin was a beloved teacher in Glencoe, IL. After 28 years teaching sixth grade at South and Central Schools, he spent his last 12 years teaching literature and writing to middle schoolers at Central School. He authored a children's novel, as well as accounts of his teaching career and travels, and wrote and directed 38 children's plays. He was a member of the North Shore United Methodist Church.
After retiring in 1996, Marvin returned to Kenosha. He wrote over 30 books, including an account of an ancestor tried at the Salem witch trials. He continued his lifetime of travel, visiting with his friends and relatives, and pursued interests in literature, film and the performing arts. An active volunteer, he tutored and ran workshops for the Kenosha Literacy Council, recorded for the blind, presented slide talks at senior care facilities and assisted in local schools.
Martin is survived by about 60 nieces and nephews. He also has a large "family" of devoted former students with whom he kept in contact over the years. After cremation, Marvin will be laid to rest next to his father, Paul, and with three generations of Martin ancestors in the family plot in Evergreen Cemetery, Hot Springs, SD. No funeral service is planned.