Jimmy Dan “Danny” Martin passed away peacefully in his sleep on April 23.
Danny was born in Muenster, Texas on June 18, 1946 to Henry Martin and Kathleen Crow Martin. Despite being a native Texan, he always referred to Carlsbad N.M. as his home town. Of course, he lived in Wyoming a majority of his life and moved to Wheatland in 1977, living there until his wife, Janet, dragged him down to Arizona to be closer to his grandkids.
He met Janet in 1967 and married later that same year. They had three blissful years together before being saddled with children: Brett, born 1970, and Casey, born 1972.
He worked as an Operating Engineer and moved to Wheatland to work on the Laramie River Station power plant. He helped put up those big stacks. After the plant was built, unlike most other construction workers, he stayed.
Danny’s passions were cars. He always had an encyclopedic knowledge of cars at his disposal. He made sure that his four granddaughters, Isabelle, Ariyana, Jessica, and Charlotte had battery powered cars on their fifth birthday. He also gave his sons, Brett and Casey, cars well before either of them could even drive.
His dream in life was to go to the time trials at the Bonneville Salt Flats in a car that he had built and was constantly finding cars to turn into hotrods.
He was funny and fun and generous to everyone. In 2019, he entered hospice care. The nurses fell in love with him and constantly commented on how funny he was.
He is preceded in death by his mother, Kathleen, his father, Henry, his brother, Joe, and his son, Brett. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Janet, and his son, Casey, as well as granddaughters Izzy, Annie, Jessie and Charlie, and brother Ray.
Services will be held on May 12 at 1 pm at the Episcopal Church in Wheatland.
