Cloudy, 30° F
(February 19, 2002)
Funeral services were conducted Saturday for long-time Lovell area farmer, Robert H. Martens, 84, who died Tuesday, Feb. 19 at his home southwest of Lovell.
Burial was in the Lovell Cemetery.
He was born April 11, 1917, in a dugout on Sarpy Creek in Montana and lived in the Hysham, Pompeys Pillar, Custer and Huntley areas during his growing up years.
In 1938, he married Helen Thatcher in Billings, Mont. at the age of 21. He worked on farms for a while and then moved to Illinois. When Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941, they moved back to Montana because he thought he might be drafted, and he wanted his wife to be near her parents.
He went to work for a cattle ranch when he returned. He was never drafted because he was considered in a vital industry to feed the army. He later rented a farm for four years in Billings, then the family moved to Forsyth, Mont., and rented a farm for 10 years.
In 1960, he fulfilled his life-long dream of owning a farm when he bought The Little Valley Ranch seven miles southwest of Lovell, where he lived and farmed until his death.
He enjoyed teaching his sons how to farm and working with them. His family is proud that Robert was known for his honesty and fairness. He was a family man and loved to have all his children and his brothers and sisters and their spouses come to visit.
Survivors include his wife Helen; three sons, Bob and wife Elsie, Bill and Ben, all of Lovell; two daughters, Nancy Walker and husband Ned of Lovell and June Cox and husband Larry of Forsyth, Mont.; 12 grandchildren, six great-grandchildren; and two brothers, Charles of Two Dot, Mont., and Gilbert of Rogers City, Mich.
