Joel H. Martin Jr.

LIVESTREAM SERVICE:

Joel’s Livestream Service will begin at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday, March 8, 2025. Scroll down to the Webcast section and click on “Watch Now.”

MADISON - Joel H. Martin Jr., 92, passed away peacefully early on March 1, 2025, at UW Hospital, surrounded by family, after a short illness. He was born on October 27, 1932, in Holdenville, Okla.

As a young adult, Joel joined the U.S. Air Force. Upon completion of his flight training, he was stationed at Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he met, married, and started his life and family with Flo, a hospital nurse who had recently moved there from Washington, D.C.

After Hawaii, Joel and Flo returned to Stillwater, Okla., where Joel completed his master’s in industrial engineering. The family settled in Albuquerque, N.M., where he began his career working as a professional engineer at Sandia National Laboratories. He continued his military flying career with the New Mexico Air National Guard, the “Enchilada Air Force.” Joel retired as an engineer with the Department of Energy.

Family was a top priority, and Joel spent his free time coaching and supporting his four children in their various sports and activities. He and Flo were well known for their accurate hand scoring of swim meets, large and small. Joel fostered a love of the outdoors in his children through skiing (a “cheap” family sport at the time), camping, fishing and hunting. He and Flo continued that legacy with all their grandchildren through Elderhostel trips, travel to the Oregon Coast, and annual pheasant hunting adventures in Idaho.

Joel and Flo retired to Heron Lake, N.M., where they built their own home. They spent many years sailing, snowmobiling, entertaining friends and family, participating in their local Catholic church, and winemaking. Joel and his winemaking partner, Gene, received a silver medal at the New Mexico State Fair. He and Flo also traveled extensively, both here and abroad. Joel could build anything, fix everything, and was always the first to help out or offer words of encouragement and praise.

When Joel needed to move from New Mexico to a lower altitude for his health, he and Flo moved to Vista West in Madison in 2022. His family is grateful for the dedicated, compassionate healthcare professionals at UW, SSM Health and the VA that cared for Joel since moving to Madison.

Joel is survived by his wife, Florence; his four children, Joel (Donna) of Los Chavez, N.M., Marykay (Tom) Zimbrick of Madison, James of Pocatello, Idaho, and John (Kathleen) of Billings, Mont.; nine grandchildren, John, Leisa (Nick), Kaite (Ryan), Maryjane, Sarah (Jake), Rachel (Soren), Joel (Charlotte), Eleanor, and Victoria; and four great-grandchildren, Anna, Daniel, Andrew, and Evelyn.

His legacy of love, adventure, and dedication to family will be cherished forever.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at ST. THOMAS AQUINAS CATHOLIC CHURCH, 602 Everglade Drive, Madison, at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 8, 2025. Family and friends who wish to view the Mass via LIVESTREAM may visit Joel’s obituary page at www.gundersonfh.com at the time of the Mass and click on “Watch Now” in the Webcast section. Military honors will follow the Mass. A visitation will be held at the church from 10 a.m. until the time of the Mass on Saturday. Future interment will take place at National Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.

Memorials may be gifted in Joel’s name to the Dane County Humane Society.

Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Gunderson Fitchburg

Funeral & Cremation Care

2950 Chapel Valley Road

(608) 442-5002