Funeral services for Paul Junior Martin, 76, West Plains, Missouri, will be held at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, January 11, 2020 in the Rose Chapel at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.
Mr. Martin passed away Tuesday, January 7, 2020 at Mercy Hospital, Springfield, Missouri.
He was born April 27, 1943, at Bakersfield, Missouri, the only child of Vernon David Martin and Elsie Wade Martin Price. Paul was orphaned at a young age and raised by his maternal grandparents, Paul Floyd Wade and Ellen Joice Wade. He attended Bakersfield High School, graduating with the Class of 1961. He was married to Nancy Wattenbarger at Kansas City, Missouri, on November 25, 1964; during this union, two sons were born. On May 3, 1988, he was married to Mary Sanders, at Salem, Arkansas, who preceded him in death on April 26, 1997. Paul married Wanda Romans Falwell on May 16, 1998, at West Plains, Missouri. While in Kansas City, he was employed at Hallmark Cards and General Motors. Returning to Bakersfield, Missouri, the summer of 1975, he was elected to one term as a member of the city council, during which time the city’s water system was installed and put into use. Paul was employed at Baxter Lab in Mountain Home, Arkansas for a time and was later employed at DRS in West Plains, Missouri, where he retired on April 30, 2013, as an assemblyman for twenty-five years. Paul accepted the Lord as his personal Savior on December 4, 1994 and was a member of His Place House of Worship in West Plains, where he had also did an outreach devotional ministry at Turning Leaf Rehab and Counseling Center for several years.
He is survived by two sons, David Martin and wife, Cindy, West Plains, Missouri and Jeff Martin, Mountain View, Missouri; special step-daughter, Autumn Falwell Alexander and wife, Lauren, Higginsville, Missouri; special step-grandson, Cash Barr, Higginsville, Missouri; step-daughter, Stacey Tanner and husband, Rich; step-grandchildren, Richelle, Kira, Xandra and Connor Tanner, all of Abilene, Texas; several grandchildren; several great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.
His parents, grandparents, Paul and Ellen Wade and William and Fannie Martin Dodson, step-father, Matt Price, Jr. three uncles, Ralph Wade, Chester Cotter and Eric Brooks and two aunts, Lola Wade Cotter and Mary Wade Brooks, preceded him in death.
Visitation will be held from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m., Friday, at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home. Burial will be in the Bakersfield Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Turning Leaf Outreach Center and may be left at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home. Online condolences may be expressed at www.robertsondrago.com.
