Ormal Blaze Martin

Ormal Blaze Martin born on February 3, 1927 to Manual Martin Jr. and Emily Martin in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was educated at Maryknoll School until the eighth grade when he had to leave due to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In order to help his family and serve his country Ormal lied about his age to work at Pearl Harbor and eventually served in the Merchant Marines for two years.

Ormal went to work as an installer for Hawaiian Telephone Company. On May 31, 1952 Ormal married the love of his life, Charlotte May Fernandes, at Saint Patrick’s Church. On July 9, 1954 Ormal and Charlotte welcomed their first child a son, Ormal Paul Martin, with joy. Four years later they welcomed their daughter Donna Ann Martin who was daddy’s little girl. Ormal and Charlotte raised their children to know the value of hard work but family meant love.

In 1975, Ormal started working part-time for parking unit at Aloha Stadium where he enjoyed years of being Parking 7. Ormal did everything from lining up cones to directing traffic for University Hawaii, high school games and even the Pro Bowl.

On September 13, 1979 Ormal welcomed his first grandson, Jason Allan McCartney. On September 18, 1981 Ormal welcomed his first granddaughter, Jennifer Marie McCartney. Ormal delighted in being a grandfather from throwing footballs to telling stories he loved every minuet.

Ormal was a constant at Sacred Hearts Academy and St. Louis High Schools showing not only his support for the schools but filing the father role for his grandchildren. Even after Jason graduated from St. Louis Ormal continued to support St. Louis high school.

In 1989, Ormal retired from Hawaiian Telephone Company but continued to work part-time at Aloha Stadium. In his spare time Ormal would enjoy walking down to the Ala Wai field to watch high school sports, read his newspapers and always watching Raider football. Everyone could recognize his signature hats for either the Raiders or St. Louis because Ormal almost never was seen without one of his hats.

On November 30, 2004 Ormal celebrated the arrival of his first great-grandchild, Mia Anne McCartney. Ormal loved singing songs with Mia as well as her shared enthusiasm for sports. On November 22, 2009 danced at the wedding of his grandson Jason to his high school sweetheart, Michellee Akiu although she had been a part of the family for many years. Then on December 7, 2010 Ormal welcomed with open arms his great-grandson, Brendan Makana McCartney. Ormal enjoyed taking a big family portrait on January 2, 2011 with his wife of many years, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Sadly on January 21, 2011 Ormal had to say good-bye to his beloved daughter Donna as she suddenly passed away from pneumonia. On March 15, 2012 Ormal was admitted to Straub hospital after suffering a massive heart attack. With all of his family by his side he quietly slipped from this world to join his daughter in Heaven.