Terry B. Martin

Terry was born on January 4, 1945, to Blaine and Dorothy Jo Martin at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where his father was a flight instructor to pilots heading overseas during World War II. His family then moved back to Utah where his two siblings, Todd and Ann, were born.

Childhood was an idyllic time for Terry. Growing up in the Salt Lake Country Club area, he was surrounded by family - including his grandparents, two aunts and uncles, and young cousins. Terry’s love of the outdoors grew during this time, as his beloved Grandfather Jacobs had a large garden where he and his relatives spent hours together growing and harvesting vegetables. As Terry got older, his family ended up in Holladay. He graduated from Olympus High School in 1963 and then enrolled at the University of Utah. In both high school and in college, Terry was on the golf team, a passion he continued throughout his life.

As Terry entered his 20s, life became more challenging. He was involved in a very serious car accident in which he was T-boned and almost lost his leg and almost his life. Falling into a coma from his head injuries, he was in Cottonwood Hospital for almost two months. He was always quiet about it but carried scars from the accident for the rest of his life. While still in college, Terry took a year off to care for his mother who had cancer. This devotion to caring for others became a theme of his life. Ultimately, Terry’s mother passed away, with his father also passing away six months later. As an orphan with two younger siblings, the responsibilities of life came early.

Afterward, Terry went back to school and graduated with a degree in Business. Early on, he worked at Skaggs Drugs, working his way up to manager of loss prevention. It wasn’t all work, however. In addition to his golfing talents, Terry was also an avid driver, racing MG cars and earning multiple trophies to show for his success. Even when he couldn’t participate in his passions personally, Terry often watched Formula One races or PGA Tour events, following all the athletes closely.

Terry married Ellen Myers, and soon after they bought a ranch together outside of Butte, Montana where they grew alfalfa hay. At the same time, Terry worked for a large retail chain gas and “C” store company, where he was the comptroller for Town Pump. While his first marriage ultimately ended, Terry and Ellen had a son, Jacob, whom he loved and of whom he was very proud. Jacob has gone on to a have a successful career in law enforcement in Washington State and he and his wife Elspeth gave Terry two beautiful grandchildren.

In 1983, Terry married Sandy Lynn Miller. At the time, she was a mother raising four children under 12 on her own, including a daughter with special needs. Showing the same compassion that he did for his mother, Terry stepped up to help Sandy and developed an especially tight bond with Brittin. It takes a very special person to care for someone else’s child with health challenges, but Terry did it with love and grace. Brittin loved him back, following and responding to Terry more than anyone else. He extended the same tenderness to grandchildren who loved spending time with Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Terry.

Because they lived in the same area for many years, Terry and Sandy became very close with many neighbors with whom they spent a lot of time together, golfing for an afternoon or traveling around the world to Thailand and other exotic locales. Other times these friendships involved service, such as serving in the bishopric as executive secretary. For a year, Terry and Sandy served as office missionaries in the Detroit Michigan Mission - where Terry found numerous ways to save money by cutting duplicate or unneeded expenses, as well as finding multiple deposits that hadn’t been returned.

Together, Terry and Sandy made their house on Siesta Drive a welcoming home. Instrumental in designing and building the house, Terry continually showed his resourcefulness in adding to the property over the next four decades. He added playground equipment for Brittin and built a playhouse for grandchildren. He continued to show his husbandry skills, building a chicken house to provide fresh eggs to family and neighbors, and raising pigs and a lamb. Countless children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, neighbors and extended family all made themselves at home in the backyard, gently swinging in the breeze, jumping on the trampoline, or just sitting and talking in the shade of majestic trees. On his last day, Terry left this world in the place he loved – sitting in the backyard beneath the trees where decades of memories were made.

Terry is survived by his wife: Sandy; his son, Jacob (Elspeth) Martin; his grandchildren, Payton and Oliver Martin; and his brother, Todd (JT) Martin. He is also survived by Kim (Mike) Holmstrom, Lauren (Ryan) Fogarty, Erik (Abi) Holmstrom, Josh (Liv) Holmstrom, Hailey (Kapono) Panetta, Hannah (Regan) Doxey, and Avery, Griffin, and Bianca Staker; as well as four great-grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his sister, Ann, and by stepchildren, Brad, Ryan and Brittin Staker.

A private service and interment will be held on Saturday, October 17, 2026 at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park.