Eugene Victor Martz, much loved and respected husband, father, grandfather, uncle, brother and friend, passed away at his home Feb. 28, 2014 from cancer.
He was born Eugene Victor Dickerson on Jan. 23, 1925 in Little Falls, Minn., the son of Martha Mary Deering and Franklin A. Dickerson. After his parents’ divorce, he moved with his mother to Livingston, MT, where his mother met and married Ernest Henry Martz, who adopted Gene.
Gene grew up in Duluth, graduating in 1943 from Duluth Central High School. Immediately sworn into the U.S. Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet in pilot training, he finished his World War II service in 1946 as a flight engineer on a B-25 in the Pacific Theater.
Gene earned a three-year diploma in commercial art from the Minneapolis School of Art in 1950 and went on to the University of Minnesota where he earned a B.A. in art in 1953, and both a B.S. and M.Ed. in art education in 1954. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He taught art at Troy State College in Troy, Alabama and then returned to the Twin Cities where he worked in advertising prior to moving to Marin County, California in 1957.
In 1978 Gene and his wife built a second home in Grand Marais and subsequently divided their time between Grand Marais and the North Shore of Lake Superior and their home in California until permanently moving back to Marin in 1999. Gene was active in the Grand Marais Art Colony, where he taught several art classes and also conducted two art workshops for the Art Colony in Tuscany and Umbria, Italy.
He continued his work in advertising in San Francisco for 10 years on both the corporate and the agency sides. In 1967 Gene returned to teaching, retiring from 23 years at Novato High School in Marin County as chairman of the fine arts department. He taught visual arts, photography and cinematography/videography. He also taught in the community education program at College of Marin and taught art to seniors in San Francisco at UC Berkeley Extension’s Center for Learning in Retirement and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at CSU San Francisco. He also wrote, photographed and produced several series of educational visual aids in art, social studies, history and art education used in public schools.
Gene had a lifelong love of flying and earned both his private pilot’s and glider licenses, flying his sailplane all over the west. He was the founding president of the North Bay Soaring Association in Sonoma, a “Diamond C” pilot and a member of the Soaring Society of America. Known for his great sense of humor, Gene also loved the outdoors and was an avid canoeist, camper and fly fisherman. He and his wife traveled extensively in both the U.S. and Europe.
Gene is survived by his wife of more than 61 years, Bonnie Jean (Gaskill) Martz of San Rafael, CA; his son Craig Phillip Martz and daughter-in-law Nancy Grant of Sacramento, CA; four grandchildren; brother Ernest Roy Martz of Minneapolis; and several nieces and nephews. He is greatly missed by his family and many friends.
Gene requested no memorial services. Memorial donations in Gene’s honor are suggested to the Grand Marais Art Colony and would be appreciated by the family.
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