Martin "Marty" Van Dyke Jr.

Martin (Marty) Van Dyke, Jr., 77, of Las Vegas, NV passed away suddenly on May 3, 2018. Martin will be lovingly remembered by Janet, his wife of 47 years; daughter Christine (Curtis); granddaughter Brittany (Sean); and his great-grandson Summit. He was preceded in death by his parents, Martin, Sr. and Ann; as well as his sister, Evelyn.

Martin was born in Holland, MI on April 1, 1941. Yes, he was an April Fool’s baby. His mother told his father that if she called and said she was in labor on April 1st, it was not a joke.

As a young boy, Martin was active in The Boy Scouts of America, attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. It was here he developed his leadership skills that he applied throughout his life. The Boy Scouts is where he was introduced to the hobbies of stamp collecting and model trains. Little did he know that when he achieved his Railroad Merit Badge, he would later own a Lionel train store. Growing up in Holland, MI, Martin was just a couple of miles from Lake Michigan. He could often be found swimming, water skiing, or racing sailboats.

Martin graduated from General Motors Institute with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He worked on his Masters at Michigan State University. Martin’s Master's thesis, Rates of Hydrolysis of the Anomeric 1-0-acetyl-tetra-0-methyl-D-glucopyranoses, was published in 1965.

Early in his career, he worked for Oldsmobile as an automotive engineer. He worked on the Cutlass 442 and the Toronado design concepts. He also helped invent and develop what is now called the cruise control. One of his many pranks included rigging a windshield washer to spray on the driver’s pants when activated. It is at Oldsmobile where Martin met and fell in love with his future wife, Janet.

In 1970, Martin and his new family moved out West to seek their fortunes in Las Vegas. He started working at the Nevada Test Site for REECo as a Field Equipment Engineer. A few of his many accomplishments included developing a mobile crane certification program, designed a dead-man system for downhole drilling, and creating special crane lifting hardware. In 1983, Martin started working for Los Alamos National Laboratories as a Technical Staff Member. Martin’s expertise was used on any technical problem encountered during events at the NTS, crane certifications, fixed an event load drop, rack recovery, and fracture safety. He retired in 2003 as a Team Leader. Martin was consulted and has testified on more than 200 court cases related to crane accidents. He coordinated the 3 cranes that lifted, “walked” and placed the Circus Circus Adventureland pink dome on 9 pedestals. He invented the “spreader bar” so cranes can lift panels. He also devised the scooter crane to lift the MGM Grand sign panels from the ground. His career was quite diverse, but he would always be known for being a crane expert.

In the fall of 1993, he and his wife opened up The Train Engineer as a very small Lionel train store. Today the store is much larger and boasts a spectacular collection of old and new Lionel trains. Over the years Martin and Janet have made many friends that enjoy the train hobby.

His love of car design endured throughout his life. Each year in Florida, he would attend the Daytona Spring Turkey Run with his son-in-law, Curtis. Martin could also be found traveling with his best friend, Janet, to Seattle, Alaska, Florida, California, New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii. He grew up around water and his vacations centered around water. Martin will be remembered by numerous family members and dear friends.

A Celebration of Life gathering will be held at Palm Eastern, 7600 S. Eastern Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89123 on July 7, 2018 between 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in memory of Martin can be made to the American Lung Association, www.lung.org.