Martin Littleton

Martin Wilson Littleton III died of Parkinson's Disease in Idaho Falls at the MorningStar Reflection All-Inclusive Memory Care on June 21, 2017, at the age of 83. On that day Martin and Ann, his devoted wife of almost 60 years, were surrounded by the wonderful caregivers from Reflections and the Encompass Hospice nurses. Martin's every need was met as he quietly slipped away at sunrise with his cowboy music playing in the background. Martin was a peace at last. Ann and her daughters Lorie, Lynn, and Lucy, will always be grateful for the compassion, loving, respectful care that Martin received from his caregivers while he made his home away from home in the Reflections Memory Unit. Martin was born November 22, 1933, in New York City, New York, to his socialite mother and his father, Martin W. Littleton II, a prominent New York lawyer. He was welcomed into the family by two much older loving sisters, Louise and Susan. In 1940 the family moved to Cody, Wyoming, and purchased a ranch forty miles outside of Cody on the Southfork of the Shoshone River. Martin grew up on this ranch from the age of seven. He learned to fish, hunt, ride horses, milk cows, garden, and drive anything that had a motor. He also developed a lifelong interest in saving birds. Martin had an owl with a broken wing named Ollie. Ollie became the ranch pet. When Martin retired, he wrote a book about his life on the ranch for his daughters called Full Circle (One Man's Journal). Martin attended school in Cody, first at a one-room schoolhouse near the ranch where he could ride his horse to school if the weather was good, and then later in town where he boarded during the week. Martin's father decided it was time Martin became more interested in his academic schooling and it was decided that Martin would attend the Fountain Valley Boarding School for Boys in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He rode the train every year to and from school. Martin loved the caboose car where he could ride out in the open and watch the country go by. At the school, Martin had to dress form dinner, learn to dance, study Latin, and hit the books hard! That was the downside. The upside was he had a wonderful Biology teacher who taught him the art of falconry, how to catch and milk rattlesnakes for their venom, identify every wild animal and bird in Colorado, and enjoy the game of Hockey. Now Martin called that an education. Ann always wondered what his father called it!! Martin returned to Cody to finish High School. He played sports, took shop class – in which he overhauled a Model A four door sedan that he had bought for $25 and would later drive to Lake Lodge in Yellowstone Park for weekend dances. He also ran a trap line before school in that car. He really loved his 1st Model A! Martin graduated from Cody High School in 1953. (A year of school was lost due to polio.) Upon graduation, he entered the United States Navy for a career that lasted twenty years. He completed basic training and the 1C Electrician School at the Naval Training Center, San Diego, California in 1953 and the Submarine School in the New London Connecticut in March 1954. He was assigned to the USS Charr, SS 328, diesel/electric, a Pacific Fleet Submarine homeported in San Diego California. Charr deployed to the Western Pacific for six months in the spring of 1954. Martin qualified for the Submarine Service Dolphins during this period and was awarded the Korean Campaign and the United Nation Service medals. He also applied for the developing Navy Nuclear Propulsion Training program during this period. Upon return from the West Pac he learned he had been accepted for the Nuclear Power Training. Martin was ordered to report to the Naval Nuclear Power training unit at Idaho Falls, Idaho, in January 1955. Basic Nuclear Power training was completed in the S1W prototype Plant in 19956 and he was assigned as a staff instructor awaiting assignment to a new construction Nuclear Submarine. Martin met and married his life partner, Ann Leigh of Idaho Falls, in August of 1957 in the First Presbyterian Church. They spent their honeymoon fishing on the Salmon and Lemhi Rivers. Martin's mother, Marion, wondered how he had talked Ann into this adventure. Ann says this was the start of Marty living his Bucket List, "his new wife in a tent on a river with his fishing rod." Martin, being a great storyteller, regaled many by telling them about his dream honeymoon. Martin was transferred to the pre-commissioning detail for the USS Seadragon, SSn-584 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, New Hampshire in August of 1958. Their daughter Lorie had just been born. Martin loaded his newly formed family into a 1956 red Ford station wagon, along with diapers, formula, bottles, etc. and took off for New Hampshire. Martin was promoted to Chief Petty Officer in 1960. He also qualified as Engineering Officer of the watch on Seadragon. In 1960, Seadragon transferred to her home port in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, from Portsmouth, NH, making the first Atlantic to Pacific transit through the Northwest Passage to the North Pole and west to the Pacific. The crew was awarded the Navy Unity Commendation for this transit. Martin remained on the Seadragon until 1962, making several Cold War patrols and a WestPac Deployment. Martin and Ann's second daughter, Lynn, was born in Hawaii at Tripler Army Hospital in 1960. In 1962, Martin was commissioned Ensign in the U.S. Navy. He was interviewed and accepted by Admiral Rickover for assignment in The Naval Reactors Program. His initial assignment was a six-year tour of duty as a Reactor Plant Ship Superintendent at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California. He was responsible for reactor plant construction, overhaul, and refueling of submarines and surface ships. Martin and Ann's third daughter, Lucinda, was born in Vallejo in 1963. In 1968, Martin was transferred back to the Naval Reactors Facility at Idaho Falls as Admiral Rickover's Representative for the Expended Core Facility (ECF). Once the family bought an acreage south of town, the girls had a whole new lifestyle. Martin became a 4-H Horse Club Leader with Dwain Wagoner. These two guys were tough! They insisted each club member be responsible for their own horses. They watered, fed, groomed, cleaned the stalls, kept a record book, and listened to their leaders about horse safety. Martin and Dwain took the club members riding into the mountains, they showed in all the local 4-H horse events, and all the members won ribbons at the Blackfoot State Fair for their own hard work! What a bonding experience this was for both Martin and his daughters. Over the years the Littleton family has reminisced many times about what these horse adventures have meant to them, especially Martin. Martin retired from active Naval Service in June of 1973 as a Lieutenant Commander. He continued Project Officer work on various assignments as a civilian for the Department of Energy from 1973 to 1987. He then worked as consultant support to DOE until he retired. Finally retired! Martin never had a Bucket List because he lived it. He hunted, fished, took flying lessons as a student until he ran out of money, bought a 1928 Ford Roadster in Sonoma California, for $1200 — he named this Model A ‘Henrietta.’ He took his daughters and grandkids in the rumble seat on many road trips. He hosted many family parties in his home. He and Ann went fishing to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Ann caught a marlin; Martin didn't, but caught many other kinds of fish over the two weeks they were there. During that time the NFL Super Bowl was being played and the couple watched the game at the Giggling Marlin Bar in Cabo. What a party that was! For 28 years they spent 75 days a year in their Park Model in Arizona, which was located in Paradise RV 5 Star Resort. It was handy for Martin to shoot trap at all the clubs. He entered and won a senior Olympics medal for 12 gauge shotgun doubles. This meet was shot at the old Phoenix Gun Club. Martin shot Ben Avery and Black Canyon Gun Ranges for many years. As he aged he played Shuffleboard and Pool. Martin always used his time well. He took silversmithing in Oregon and glass bead making in Arizona with Ann. He built a workshop in his barn, nothing fancy, so he and Ann could enjoy their newfound hobby together. It wasn't long before this hobby turned into a successful art business. The couple attended many juried art shows with their beads throughout the west. In September of 1998 they heard about the Women's Health Symposium to be held in October 1998, a free conference dedicated to all aspects of women's health, sponsored by District 7 Health Department. Martin told Ann that he wanted to donate 500 beads in her name for free mammograms. Ann is a breast cancer survivor; this was Martin's way of paying it forward. The beads earned almost $4,000 for mammograms. After he retired from their business, Martin painted (he would never call himself an artist, he thought that was over the top), wrote, and gardened on his eight acres south of town. His specialty was squash. He grew all kinds of squash. Nobody ever left his house without a squash. He donated several baskets of squash to the Soup Kitchen each year. Martin loved to hunt ducks at Market Lake. Early in 2000 Martin noticed that Market Lake had become a dump for all kinds of trash that endangered the bird life. He contacted Idaho State Fish and Game and set up a program where Vintage Car Club of America would clean up Market Lake twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. This program continues today. The Littleton Family considers this to be Martin's legacy to the community. If anyone wants to help the Vintage Car Club in this endeavor, please give them a call. The number is in the Post Register and they schedule the date well ahead of time! For Martin's (Marty's) Celebration of Life Party, the Littleton Family would like for all who care to participate in any manner they choose, on Saturday September 9, 2017, to come out to Freeman Park and join in the 2017 Walk to End Alzheimer's-Eastern Idaho. www.atz.org/idaho The Hawkbill Base United States Submarine Veterans will conduct a service in Martin's honor that is dedicated to our shipmates on Eternal Patrol and those who served in the Silent Service. This service will take place at 9:00 a.m. September 9, 2017, in Freeman Park near the Vietnam War Memorial before "the walk" is started. All are welcome! Martin's quick wit, the way he believed in diversity and equality for everyone, his independent thinking right to the end of his life, his devotion to family, friends, community, and country, served his well throughout his life. He will be missed by all who knew him. Martin is survived by his wife, Ann; daughters, Lorie (Albert) Whitesell of Durango, Colorado; Lynn Siedenstrang of Black Diamond, Washington; Lucinda (KiKi) Torres of Los Alamos, New Mexico; four grandchildren, Michael (Stacie) Siedenstrang, Rachel (Antone) Evans, Connor Whitesell, and Mateo Torres; one great grandchild, Isiah Evans; and many nephews and nieces on both sides of the family. They called Martin "Uncle Marty" and he loved this title. Martin asked the caregivers at Reflections to call him 'Marty' because it made him sound and feel younger. Martin was preceded in death by both parents, his sister, Louise Littleton Roberts, brother-in-law, Harrison Roberts, sister, Susan Littleton Peterson, brother-in-law, John R (Jack) Peterson, and Senator Craig Thomas, who was married to Martin's niece, Susan Roberts Thomas. Interment with full military honor guard will be held at Riverside Cemetery in Cody, Wyoming, as soon as arrangements can be made. The family suggests memorial donations may be sent to the Parkinson's Foundation or the Craig and Susan Thomas Foundation, PO Box 22246, Cheyenne, WY 82003.

Private Family Services have been held. He passed away