John Charles Martino Sr.

John was born to parents Lawrence Vincent Martino and Della Rosa Devincenzi on November 30, 1928, in San Francisco, California, where he was baptized into the Catholic faith. He served as an altar boy at Saints Peter and Paul Church and was active in the church for many years.

He grew up in San Francisco, California, where he attended school. Furthermore, he had a busy childhood at a young age worked part-time after school and weekends at Fisherman’s wharf boiling crabs and when World War II commenced, he sold newspapers in the financial district to help assist his family financially. Furthermore, he also took accordion lessons when he was 6 years old and continued with his lessons and practiced his accordion in his spare time. In His lessons and dedicated practice, he progressed into a proficient accordionist. John was also very athletic he won numerous championships in sculling/rowing events representing Galileo High School at Lake Merced in San Francisco.

He married Charlotte Jane Davidson, the love of his life, on June 9th, 1950 they were married for 49 years.

He was hired at Pacific Bell Telephone as a change collector for the pay telephones in his district, then he was promoted to a telephone repairman and then advanced to a lineman where he was employed for over 42 years until he retired in 1986. His retirement years were spent in California enjoying his family and friends. He was an exceptional, versatile and passionate accordionist; he founded a band 4-Pennies + One Token in the late 1980’s his band performed at numerous events and venues for many years. He moved to Manteca in 2017 where he enjoyed his family and friends.

John had unconditional love for his family, friends and pets, he was always joyful and will be profoundly missed by so many.

John is survived by his 3 children Johnny (Susan) of Modesto, CA, Nancy (Mark) of San Jose, CA, Tina (Danny) of Manteca, CA, and six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Graveside Service: Oak Hill Memorial Park, Saturday, March 27th, 2021 @ 10:00 a.m.