Gregory Thomas Martin

With heavy hearts we share the passing of Gregory Thomas Martin of Beaver Bank, who passed away at the Halifax Infirmary on April 12, 2020.

Greg was born on March 12, 1952 and was the son of the late Thomas and Mabel Martin.

Greg started his outside activities with the Boy Scouts in Beaver Bank at the age of 12. Later he played in a local hardball league in Lower Sackville and Beaver Bank. But Greg’s greatest love was wrestling which he started in Sackville Jr. High under the coaching of Doug Mitchell. Doug coached Greg to qualify and wrestle in the Pan Am Games. Greg went on to high school where he then coached wrestling.

Greg started his first job at the Canada Dry bottling plant in Bedford. He also worked on weekends in the canteen at Drag City Raceway in Middle Sackville. Greg went on to work at Payzants Building Supplies in Lower Sackville. He also started to work in the electrical field and decided that it wasn’t for him.

Greg then went on to work in various beverage rooms in metro, starting at the Lighthouse, Privateers, Flanagan’s, The Red Lion, and then a long time manager of the Corral Pub and Grill where he started their own fund raising at Christmas for families in need. He then went on to open a bar in Dartmouth called Mysteries and then on to the Homestretch Bar and Grill in Lower Sackville. In his last years of working he worked for Sackville Trenching and then onto to Cahill Group where they were changing all the street lights to LED. Greg was a long-time member of the Waverley Ground Search and Rescue and participated in the Swiss Air Disaster. Greg had a love of the woods and hunting, and being at his camp in Stewiacke with the filthy few, which later was renamed the fifty few and eventually the FOG. These five guys Robert Keddy, Jimmy Sheppard, Terry Oickle, Alan Carey and Greg hunted together every year for many years and were lifelong friends. Greg battled cancer for the last few years in which he lost a lung and then caught pneumonia which ended his life.

Greg is survived by his wife of 29 years Maria Aulenback, his step daughter Jennifer Learmonth and his grandson and little buddy Carter Learmonth O’Neil of Waverley, his brother Glenn Martin of Halifax, his sister Patricia Bayne (Jon O’Leary) of Dartmouth, his niece Sarah Blasco (Ryan Blasco) and their son his great nephew Cole Blasco of Dartmouth, and cousin Nancy Martin MacPherson with who he had very special bond, his sister in law Kim MacDonald (Roger)from St. Croix , Kim was very supportive during his illness and was there whenever she was needed. Kim’s girls Kaylee Keddy (Joey) Walton, Kaylee lovingly called him Uncle Dufus, his niece Brittany Keddy (Ryan) Bedford Brittany also loved to tease Uncle Greg, plus many cousins and their extended families.

We would like to thank all the nurses on 8.3 at the Halifax Infirmary who treated Greg with so much care and compassion during his difficult time, and to all his friends who stopped by and called him on his various hospital stays. Greg loved his friends and family, while going through his illness they were his greatest supporters. Greg had a strong will to live and fought until he couldn’t fight any longer. He will be missed by all, especially by his Cat Bud who he loved so much.

Celebration of life will be announced at a later date due to the pandemic. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Cancer Society, or the SPCA. Online condolences can be made at www.jasnowfuneralhome.com