Eugene -Marty- Marten

Eugene "Marty" Norbert Marten died on July 26, 2015 at his home in Cottonwood surrounded by his family. He was born on April 24, 1928 in Tomah, Wisconsin to Norbert and Emma (Rosenow) Marten. Following graduation from Tomah High School he joined the Army. He served with the occupation forces in Japan in 1947-\u002748 where he became editor of the Pacific Stars and Stripes, serving directly under General Douglas A. McArthur. This paper served all the US forces in Japan and the entire Pacific theater. He also served during the Korean War. Marten attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, received his bachelor\u0027s degree from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and did masters work at the University of Oregon in Eugene. He married Joyce Lawrence on November 25, 1948 in Tomah. In the fall of 1953, the couple purchased the Montpelier Herald in Montpelier, Indiana, building the newspaper up and selling it in 1957. A leading story while there was Marty\u0027s interview of Elvis Presley. They then purchased a larger newspaper property in LaGrange, Indiana. The LaGrange Publishing Company publishes the LaGrange Standard and LaGrange News and serves the entire county. Keeping their interest in the Indiana newspapers, they moved on to Arizona in 1969 where they purchased the Verde Independent. At that time it was a small, tab size publication serving the Upper Verde Valley. It grew with the Valley until it was a full-size, twice a week publication, including special sections for Camp Verde and Sedona. Often it ran to 60 pages. Marten believed a community newspaper should be solely devoted to the lives, activities, concerns and interests of people in the community. In July 1979 they sold the Independent to Western Newspapers. Following the sale of the newspaper the couple traveled extensively to over 75 countries on six continents including many third world countries. They traveled coast to coast and border to border, as well as into Alaska and Mexico in their motor home. Marten had been active in a wide variety of service and professional organizations, including president of Arizona Newspaper Association, Grand Canyon Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (Sigma Delta Chi), Cottonwood Progressive Association, Clarkdale-Verde District Kiwanis Club and the Verde Valley Ambulance Company. He was also a former board member of Community Newspapers of Arizona, Verde Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Verde Valley Fair Association. He was a charter member of Faith Lutheran Church and for the past twenty years has been a member of Rock of Ages Lutheran Church in Sedona. He is survived by his wife of sixty-six years Joyce; children Michael (Debbie) Marten of Steamboat Springs, CO, Dennis (Beth Ann) Marten of Chandler, AZ, Elizabeth (Dave) Handley of Mammoth Lakes, CA and Patricia (Michael) Chesney of Medford, OR. He is also survived by ten grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and one sister Caryl (Mack) Thomason of Toccoa, GA. He was preceded in death by his parents, a sister, brother, son, daughter and grandson. Services will be held on Saturday, August 1, 2015 at 10:00am at Rock of Ages Lutheran Church, 390 Dry Creek Road in Sedona. The Rev. Dave Gruenhagen will officiate. Condolences may be sent to the family at P.O. Box 1388, Cottonwood, AZ 86326. An online guestbook is available to sign at www.westcottfuneralhome.com