The Genealogy of one Vermonter, Darrell A. Martin

Clifton was born in the house at 11 Elm Street in Rutland, Rutland County, Vermont, on 9 January 1926.^1,2,3,4 He was the son of Clifton Oliver Martin and Annis Lizzie LaQue. Clifton Carroll Martin was often called Clif. Clifton was nicknamed Bud, exclusively by his siblings, nephews, and nieces, as far as I can tell. He lived much of his childhood in Mount Holly, Rutland County, Vermont at various locations. At 15 years old he moved to Bellows Falls, Rockingham, Windham County, Vermont where he worked on the Fred Bussino and Bertie Blodgett farms, attending Bellows Falls High School as a freshman. He then moved to Springfield, Windsor County, Vermont and lived and worked on the Ed Howe farm, attending Springfield High School. He began military service on 16 February 1943 as a volunteer in the United States Navy. Boot camp for him was on the Naval Training Center base which had been built the previous summer on the eastern shore of Seneca Lake, in Sampson, Seneca County, New York. He was a "plank owner" of the USS Hale, DD-642 (a Fletcher-class destroyer), and served as a sonarman in the South Pacific campaign from the Gilbert Islands to the end of the war. The Hale was the first destroyer to shell one of the Japanese home islands. He reached the rank of Seaman First Class, and was not aware of any individual decorations or unit citations. Later in life he became a "plank owner" of a different sort, of the Naval Memorial in Washington, DC. He ended military service on 27 January 1946 in San Diego, San Diego County, California, with an honorable discharge. He graduated in 1947 from Springfield High School in Springfield, Windsor County, Vermont, by attending night school. He was always considered part of his original class, SHS 1945. He married Kathelyn Mae Dutton in Springfield on 31 July 1948.^5,6 Clifton Carroll Martin resided with Kathelyn Mae Dutton at 29 Dewey Street in Springfield on 16 September 1949.⁷ His son Darrell was born on 16 September 1949 in Springfield.^8,9,10,11,12 He was working for Dustin's Esso Station in Springfield at the time.⁷ The family moved 20 December 1950 to what would later be the garage of the home they were building in the Dutton District in Springfield, on two acres of land purchased from Kathelyn's grandfather Herbert Dutton. His son Curtis was born on 9 December 1951 in Springfield.¹³ His son Bradley was born on 30 October 1956 in Springfield.¹⁴ His daughter Anita was born on 23 April 1958 in Springfield.¹⁵ In the summer of 1967, the family removed to Union Lake, Oakland County, Michigan when Bryant Computer Products was moved by its parent Excello Corporation. In 1970 the family moved to in Walled Lake, Oakland County, Michigan. In 1986 they moved in Commerce Township, Oakland County, Michigan. He underwent emergency triple-bypass heart surgery 7 August 1992. Clifton died of congestive heart failure on 20 December 2001 in Huron Valley Hospital in Commerce Township, Oakland County, Michigan, at age 75. His body was donated on 20 December 2001 to Wayne State University Medical School located in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. He was buried in 2002 in the Oakland Hills Memorial Gardens cemetery, in the area reserved for the Wayne State University School of Medicine; "The Dead Shall Teach The Living" in Novi, Oakland County, Michigan.