Donald Martinson, 1916-2016

Published 9:00 am Sunday, December 18, 2016

Donald George Martinson, a resident of Louisville, Colorado, passed away peacefully Monday, Dec. 5, 2016, at age 100.

Born Feb. 21, 1916 in Albert Lea, Don’s gentle manner and sense of humor survived his physical decline.

Don’s family was long an integral fixture in Albert Lea. Don’s father, Fred Martinson, was a linotype operator at the Albert Lea Evening Tribune, retiring just as that technology became obsolete. His mother, Hazel King Martinson, was the daughter of George and Margaret King. George King helped bring the Rock Island line into Albert Lea and was later a government inspector at Wilson & Co. Don’s mother-in-law, Helen Bertelson Sund, was the school nurse for the Albert Lea public schools from about 1923 to 1958. Helen’s brother (and Don’s employer), Anton Bertelson, owned and operated Bertelson Lumber; and her father, Christian Bertelson, came to Albert Lea in 1886, eventually managing Sanborn Lumber.

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As a youth in Albert Lea, Don was awarded his Eagle Scout badge by Rear Admiral Richard Byrd at a regional event in Sioux Fall, South Dakota. Don graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1933, then attended Mankato Commercial College. He worked for Wilson & Co. in Detroit and in Wausau, Wisconsin, until January 1942, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corp. In July 1942, he was sent to England, serving as master sergeant at the Liverpool port of imbarkation/embarkation. In spring 1943, he was brought back from England to attend quartermaster general officer candidate school in Fort Washington, Maryland. He was appointed second lieutenant (later captain), assigned to an Army Air Corp heavy bomber group stationed in Italy. Don was also a long-time officer in the Air Force Reserve, retiring in 1976 as lieutenant colonel.

After the war, Don returned to Albert Lea and on Aug. 17, 1946, married his high school classmate, Alice Sund. Don managed Bertelson Lumber for many years until the yard was sold to a conglomerate. Don and Alice moved their growing family to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where Don managed another independent lumberyard. When that yard was also sold to a conglomerate, Don became a pricing administrator for Collins Radio (later Rockwell International) on projects that included guidance and communications systems for NASA’s Gemini and Apollo programs. Although they rarely traveled, Don and Alice attended all of their class reunions in Albert Lea until the number of living classmates became too few to hold reunions. (Don celebrated his 80 th class reunion in Boulder by himself, not aware of any other living classmates.) Don and Alice did, however, travel with son-in-law, Tom, and family to Stockholm for the 1989 Nobel festivities. In 1992, Don and Alice moved to Sun City, Arizona, joining other retired friends from Albert Lea. Alice died in Sun City on Dec. 27, 1997. Don then joined the Sun City (Maricopa County) Sheriff’s Posse, retiring in 2010 at age 94. He moved to Boulder, Colorado, in 2011 to be near his daughter and family.

Surviving Don are sons Reid (Rosie) and Lee (Lucy Payne) of Minnesota; daughter, Carol Cech (Tom), of Boulder; grandchildren Allison (Jason), Jennifer, Alec, Erin, Ryan, Jenna, Anna and Erik; and one great-grandchild born a century after Don.

In addition to his wife, Alice, in 1997; Don was predeceased by a daughter, Lisa, in 1974.

Don requested no memorial. Ashes will be scattered in Minnesota, joining those of his wife, Alice. Family may be contacted at martinsonfamily100@gmail.com.