Earl Lester Martin Sr., 76, of Elm Mott, passed away Saturday, November 26, 2016 at Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center.
Earl was born January 4, 1940 in Red Level, Alabama to Margaret Walden and Grover Cleveland Martin.
At the age of 16, he left high school to join the United States Air Force and was teaching electronics classes by age 18. After serving four years in the Air Force, he began designing electronic devices for aircraft.
He met Gloria Yvonne Sweeney and married her in 1965. They had four children; Angela, Lester, Margaret and Eric.
After moving around the country as an entrepreneur, he and Tom Hauke founded McDowell Research Corporation in Waco in 1992. The combined talents of Tom and himself, made a successful combination. The company was a huge success requiring the company to move through three buildings to accommodate its growth of their employees, and extended family members.
After Tom and Earl sold McDowell Research in 2006, he entered retirement, but never liked being retired. Afterwards, he worked on several possible business startups. Who knows what ideas were twirling around in that head of his.
Earl is survived by his wife. Gloria; his daughter, Angela and husband, Ken Carothers; son Earl Lester Martin, Jr. and wife, Gretchen; daughter, Margaret and husband, James Trantham; and son, Eric Martin; his sister, Marjorie Barron; and several grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
Visitation: 2:30 p.m. Thursday, December 1st followed by a memorial service at 3:30 p.m. in the chapel at Lake Shore Funeral Home, 5201 Steinbeck Bend, in Waco.
Lake Shore Funeral Home & Cremation Services
Place of Service: Lake Shore Funeral Home , 5201 Steinbeck Bend; Waco, TX 76708
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It really saddens me to know that Earl is gone. I do feel your pain of loss. I was friends of Earl and Gloria’s a while back and remember them both with fond memories. They are good people and it was always a pleasure to be with them. My heart goes out to their 4 children and their mom. My thoughts and prayers will always be with you. You will never be forgotten by me. I wish that I could be there for all of the family. I miss you all greatly. Just remeber God is good and heals all in time…..
My sympathy and prayers to you, Angela and Ken.
Earl was a genius! I remember our trips together to the races in Texas, him, Tom, my parents, and several others! We had lots of fun times together. I always enjoyed talking with him about physics and electronics. Not many people know this….but my daddy re-furbished their first office building on 8th Street in Waco. I was writing my graduate thesis on Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling at Baylor and several of my pictures, thoughts, ideas, etc., were created from that building. He was a very unique and special man! Many thanks to him for his advice and words of wisdom. He will be greatly missed and he will always have a special place in my heart. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends! We all may have lost him here on Earth, but Heaven will have gained a great man!
We are all deeply sorry for your lost. You will be in our prayers.
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My condolences and best thoughts to all Earl’s friends and family. He was a bigger than life man, and will be missed.
Earl, I am going to miss our talks. You enlightened me and taught me to explore and spread my wings and to shine! Thank you! Farewell my friend until we meet again!
My condolences to his family. A great man and friend.
So many memories of my friend, Earl! He was truly one of a kind. God Bless Gloria & his family. You are all in my thoughts and prayers!
My Condolences to your family. I can share my heart with you as I too lost my father on Christmas Eve.
I wish I had words of wisdom for you but what I can tell you is you have each other and your Dad and Husband lives on in each of you.
Earl was a brilliant man. But more than that he was a gentle giant of a man. I never knew a nicer person or a sweeter soul. I’ve known a roll for just shy of 40 years. I think he saw me as a project in need of some serious guidance. And he would have been right. I love him and I will miss him terribly.
My love and prayers to Gloria, Angela, Margaret, Eric and Lester.
The world was a much better and more interesting place for having had Earl L Martin in it…..R.I.P. my friend
I am truly sorry for your loss Angela. I send you my sincere condolences & hope you will share them with your family. Thinking of you.
I guess I’ve only known Earl 16 yrs when I first started at McDowell Research in 2000. My first thought was “dang he sure is crouchy”. But as I got to know him, he was so sincere in everything he did. We both are Capricorns 1 day apart and I kinda understood his since of humor for I to shared that in many ways. Every year we always got a kick outa tellin each other Happy Birthday, which I will always will continue to wish my friend a Happy Birthday each year. I will miss his sneaking in on fb and asking How are you doing every now an then. He cared so much for the people he knew and always made sure everyone was thought of . He Loved Mrc !!!!
R.I.P. MY FRIEND EARL
Earl definitely was a one of a kind man! He was such a blessing to my life by taking the risk and hiring a very freshly graduated 20 year old! I really loved working at McDowell. It felt like family. Earl was always kind and very respectful to me…I felt special every time he used the word “freaking” when I was within earshot! It would crack me up when he really wanted to use stronger language, but he would pause, stutter, glance at me, and say “freaking idiots”! He referred to me as “Kid”, and he always had my back. And he sure made life interesting!! Legends are created from men like Earl. My prayers are with the family through the tough days ahead.
I’ll always remember my LONG discussions with Earl about muscle cars and WWII aircraft; I thought that I knew quite a bit about warbirds – until I started talking with him! He most certainly knew ’em (far better than I did) and really enjoyed “schooling” me about the facts – not fiction! Tom H. would finally pull us back on track and we’d get back to business. I saw many examples of Earl’s superior intelligence – he was absolutely brilliant in electronics R & D and innovation. I remember and treasure the great experiences that I had working with MRC – the true friends that I met – and Earl was most certainly one of them! My sincere condolences and prayers to his family – I am so sorry for your loss.
I worked with Earl as a supplier to MRC. Earl was an intelligent man who cared about the people he worked with. I am sure he has already figured out a way to improve Heaven! RIP, Earl Martin. The prayers of the entire H L Electronics team are with his family during this difficult time.
Condolences to the Martin family. Our thoughts and prayers go out to your whole family. Psalms 147:3 says God, “heals the broken hearted, and binds up their wounds.” May God bring you comfort and peace.