A Vision
John T. Martin
July 2, 1917 - February 23, 1997
By: Clara Lee Martin
John was born July 2, 1914 in Denver to Arthur and Argie Martin. His dad was a
carpenter. At the age of ten he and his family moved to a farm his dad purchased east of
Fort Lupton. John graduated from Fort Lupton High School and then went to business school
in Denver for a couple of years. He then decided he needed further education and went on
to college, first year in Texas and then to the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley
his sophomore year. In the summer of that year, he and Clara Lee Vincent were married.
John and Clara Lee then went to Texas and were attending North Texas University in
Denton, Texas, when the United States entered World War II following the bombing of Pearl
Harbor. John had already started working for North American Aviation as well as carrying
his college classes. He became a tool design engineer and a year or two later his college
career was interrupted. Clara Lee graduated from North Texas University. During the final
year of the war he was drafted and after training was sent to Korea where he spent a year
in the Occupation Forces in the General’s office in Seoul. His business school
training served him well in that circumstance. On the ship with several thousand other
soldiers John heard his name coming over the loud speaker one day. He thought it was a
mistake but when the call kept coming he decided he should respond. He was informed that
they had discovered from his resume that he could take and transcribe shorthand. When he
protested that he hadn’t done it in quite a while and really wouldn’t be able to
do it that well, they simply ignored his protests and pulled him off the ship and sent him
to the Inspector General’s office in Seoul. He spent the next year in that office and
bouncing around all over Korea in the back of the General’s jeep. What an experience!
Clara Lee and their two-year-old son, Jack, returned to Colorado for that year. John
returned to Colorado at the end of his service and worked for Gates Rubber Company as a
tool design engineer. In 1950, he and Clara Lee returned to Fort Lupton to go into their
own business- the wholesale and retail gasoline business with the Bay Company.
From that point John’s activities branched in many directions. He added a small
cafe called "The Coffee Cup" to the first service station. When the highway
changed and he moved to the new location, another restaurant called "The Branding
Iron," was added. He also began selling insurance from his office at that location.
Then he became a contractor and with his brother, Jim, he began developing the family farm
into subdivisions east of Fort Lupton. With his building crew he built houses in Fort
Lupton and the surrounding area. His crew, with the help of the church members, built the
present-day First Baptist Church in Fort Lupton.
In 1969, a change took place in the business location. The people who had leased the
restaurant gave up the restaurant and John’s wife Clara Lee, began running the
restaurant. The restaurant became quit successful and John decided to close the station
and eventually moved his office and the insurance business to 604 First Street in Fort
Lupton. Meantime the children, Jack, Shelley, Dana, and Mitchell were growing up. They all
spent many hours working in both businesses. Mitchell now owns the Branding Iron business
with Clara Lee as his landlord. Dana is an attorney with the Inter American Bank of Latin
America in Washington, D.C. Shelley is a courier for Fed X and lives in Greeley. Jack is a
United Methodist minister and lives in Mannassas, Virginia.
In addition to all his business activities, he was very active and held many posts in
his church, First Baptist, and was very active in community affairs. He was a past
president of the Rotary Club and the Optimist Club. He also was very politically involved.
He became mayor in Fort Lupton. He was instrumental in promoting Home Rule for Weld County
and served as the first president of Weld County Council. He was elected county
commissioner from 1981-1985. He served on numerous county advisory groups, including the
building, housing, and mental health advisory committees. He was a trustee on the board of
directors for the North Colorado Medical Center for 6 years, and served on the Weld County
Chapter of the Salvation Army. He also served on United Way and Red Cross Committees.
One of his most loved projects was the South Platte Valley Historical Society with its
plans to rebuild the 1836 fort at Fort Lupton. He was president of this group and one of
its founders. History was enormously important to him. Through that interest he met
Dorothy and David Lupton long before the beginning of the Society, and they became fast
friends who were very helpful in this project.
John was artistic in so many ways and oil painting became his hobby. It enabled him to
put some of his dreams on canvas for all of us to enjoy. Then one day a man named Cliff
Lupton came from England to visit Fort Lupton in search of his own family history and
wondering if he might be related to Lancaster Lupton. He and John began discussing
John’s dream to rebuild the fort and they decided to open a bank account in Fort
Lupton with dreams of someday doing just that. Cliff made the first deposit- ten dollars
-to open that account, and their dream was on the way. Now look at the progress that has
been made! |
