Cerjio F. "Marty" Martinez Sr.

Cerjio F. “Marty” Martinez, Sr. passed away on December 14, 2014 after an 85 year life that can be referred to as “the greatest show” a person can live. Marty was preceded in death by his wife, Amelia, of 56 years, his mother and father Juanita and Jose Maria Martinez, his sisters Lola Rivera and Mindora Watkins, his brother Mario Martinez, Sr. Marty is survived by his loving and devoted family, daughters Sandra Jo Pulido, Gloria Jean and Daniel Piñón, Sr., sons Cerjio F. Martinez, Jr. and Sylvia Aguilar, Roland and Peyton Martinez. His five grandchildren: Daniel Jr. and Jennifer Piñón, Valerie Jo, Daniel Jr. and Amanda Jo Pulido and Sela Rae Martinez, and two great grandchildren Benjamin Piñón and Brianna Jo Pulido.

Marty attended Bowie High School then enlisted immediately into the Navy. He served four years in the Navy during the Korean Conflict, assigned to the USS Fulton. In 1953, Marty joined the El Paso Police Department, becoming one of the first Hispanic police officers, where he spent the next 39 years of his life. During his law enforcement career, Marty was placed in charge of the Identification and Records photo lab, ultimately bringing the lab into the 20th century. He received various training, specifically through the FBI and the Institute of Applied Science in the areas of crime scene photography and fingerprint analysis, providing this expertise to the citizens of El Paso. During his storied career with the El Paso Police Department, Marty still found time and energy to be involved in a variety of activities demonstrating his commitment as a public servant.

Marty is an inductee of the El Paso Baseball Hall of Fame, and in the El Paso Boxing Hall of Fame. Marty, having been the Light Weight Boxing Champion in the Navy, was one of the original founders of the El Paso Golden Gloves and worked for years as a trainer and manager of young aspiring boxers. He was also heavily involved in mentoring and coaching El Paso youth in various sports programs. Having coached for several years young boys and girls baseball, football, basketball and softball through our local parks and recreation programs. Marty also found time to spend 30 years officiating the sports he loved to coach basketball, football and baseball.

Marty was an active member of the American Legion Post 74, El Paso Municipal Police Officers Association, Grandview Optimist Club, Alta Vista Optimist Club, Northeast Optimist Club, Lower Valley Optimist Club, El Paso Girls’ Softball Association, El Paso Boys’ Baseball Association, Southwest Football Officials Association, The El Paso Umpires Association and the Southwest Basketball Officials Association.

Marty still found time through all of this to indulge himself in a variety of hobbies, building model airplanes and boats, photography, leather crafting, traveling, cruising El Paso, writing the War Story Chronicles, and being an activist. Marty was a one of a kind, selfless man, who lived a full life with those that he loved.

Visitation for Marty will be on Thursday, December 18th from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. with the rosary at 7 p.m. at Martin Central, 3839 Montana Avenue. Funeral mass will be held at Our Lady of Assumption Church 4805 Byron on Friday, December 19th at 1 p.m. Rite of Committal at Ft. Bliss National Cemetery immediately following the mass.