M.B. Martin
January 31, 1923 – May 20, 2012
M.B. (Muton Bruns) Martin, Jr. died peacefully Sunday, May 20, 2012, at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center. A memorial service was held on the following Wednesday at Lake Shore Baptist Church with the Rev. Sharlande Sledge and Rev. Dorisanne Cooper officiating.
M.B. was born January 31, 1923, in a farm house near Oglesby, Texas, to M.B. “Tump” Martin and Clara Etta Baird Martin. M.B. was the next to last of five children.
Mid-way through Texas A&M he volunteered for service in the United States Army where he was awarded the European Theatre Ribbon with one Bronze Star, the American Theater Ribbon, the Good Conduct Ribbon, the Victory Medal, the Expert Rifleman Badge and the Purple Heart. Following discharge from the Army he married his high school sweetheart, Dorothy Cook of McGregor, with whom he has been happily married for 65 years. After graduating from A&M, M.B. and “Dot” moved around from College Station to Dallas, to Bartlesville, Okla., and back to Dallas and finally ending in Waco for the past 59 years.
Shortly after moving to Waco, M.B. and Dot joined together with a group to form Lake Shore Baptist Church. He and his brother Carroll were on the original Building Committee. Not long after the building was completed, M.B. was elected Deacon and Trustee. For many years he served as the Building and Grounds Committee “of one.”
M.B. retired in 1989 from Hercules, Inc. in McGregor as Senior Mechanical Design Engineer after 32 years of service. In his golden years, he loved meeting weekly with his Thursday Lunch Bunch of men at Uncle Dan’s Barbeque and enjoyed getting together with the men of his Tuesday night friendly poker group.
M.B. was preceded in death by his parents; sisters, Christine Grantham and Sammie Saunders and brother, Carroll Martin.
He is survived by his wife, Dot; a daughter, Vicki and husband, Richard Shellenberger, of The Woodlands, Texas; a son, Bill and wife, Wai Ping of Deer Park, Texas; a sister, Marietta Heard of Houston; four grandchildren, Tiffany and husband, Dr. Matt Porter, Alana and husband, Dustin Bookhout, Mitzi and Major Martin; and five great grandchildren, Owen, Victoria Grace and Quinton Porter and Bradyn and Carsten Bookhout.