Martin Allman

Martin E. Allman, “Marty” age 93 of Oak Ridge and formerly of Wayne, died peacefully on Thursday, December 15, 2022.

Marty was born in Passaic and grew up in Clifton. Although smart as a whip, he never had much use for school so, as soon as he could, he went to work for his father Peter in his plastering business. Eventually, he and his brother Garry joined the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local #4 Union. His family used to tease Marty by telling him that he and Garry were the Allman Brothers before the rock band was the Allman Brothers. Marty enjoyed a long and prosperous career as a union plasterer. He was a member of that union for 76 years! A true craftsman, he could make Cornish moldings by hand that today you’d buy prefab.

Shortly after joining the union, Marty was called to serve in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He bravely served in Korea from 1951 to 1953. Over the course of his lifetime, he shared many accounts of how God protected him while he was overseas. One of those accounts came when he got a leave to go home to be by the bedside of his dying father. He was in a mail jeep enroute to the airplane that was going to fly him home. As they drove toward the plane, the driver suddenly yelled “duck Allman!” The jeep came to a screeching stop just narrowly avoiding Marty and the driver from having their head decapitated by the nearly invisible wires that the enemy had strung across their path. They got out of the jeep and began the time-consuming task of cutting those wires so they could get Marty to the plane on-time. Unfortunately, they arrived too late and Marty’s plane had already taken off. Of course, Marty was disappointed but his disappointment turned to thankfulness to God when he learned that the flight he missed was shot down by the enemy and there were no survivors. He was able to get on the next flight and again, God spared his life when that plane experienced a hobbled landing in Honolulu, Hawaii when one of the engines caught on fire.

Marty was a decent man who lived in the service of others and always tried to do the right thing. While serving in Korea, he was a cook. It was regular practice for food scraps to be loaded into a truck to be dumped into the river. One day while dumping the scraps, Marty noticed hungry Korean children picking up those scraps with rusty tin cans. Feeling compassion, from that point going forward, whenever he went to dump the scraps, Marty always brought some good food to give to those kids.

As an Army cook, Marty was well aware of the policy that soldiers ate for free but officers had to pay for meals. Despite the policy, Marty never made the officers pay. To demonstrate their appreciation, they used to let Marty take the jeep out for a ride as long as he stayed behind enemy lines. One day while out for a ride, he saw another jeep turned over on its side with one of the tires still spinning. Stopping to see if anyone was hurt, he learned that a soldier was stuck under that jeep. Quickly, Marty’s adrenaline kicked in to the point where he was able to upright that jeep on his own. That day he saved a captain’s life, but it wasn’t until some seventy years later that Marty learned that he was the recipient of the Bronze Star for that humanitarian act of heroism. It happened when his son-in-law contacted Congresswoman Mikie Sherril to inquire about some other medals that Marty had never received. One of the medals that came in the mail was the well-deserved Bronze Star.

When he was just ten years old, Marty met a girl named Marion Ten Hoeve who was just eight. She didn’t know it but this shy boy immediately took a liking to her. As the years went on and the two moved into adolescence, Marty’s admiration for Marion never faded, but he was only interested in dating her if she shared his Christian values, but he was too shy to go up to her and ask her. Well finally, one night when Marion was a young beautiful eighteen-year old girl, to Marty’s delight, she miraculously showed up at his church, Prospect Street Christian Reformed Church in Clifton, to attend a hymn sing. At last the question burning in Marty’s heart all these years was answered…..Marion was a church-going girl! The next day, Marty greeted her as she was coming off the bus from school. He immediately asked her to go out with him. Their first date was what could best be described as a park and smooch in the Paterson Mountains. Marty picked Marion up in his very cool 1949 hunter green Dodge Meadowbrook, they headed to the Paterson Mountains. They truly fell in love and one Memorial Day, while Marion was helping Marty wash that 49 Dodge, he bent down as she was scrubbing a white-wall tire and quietly asked her for her hand in marriage. Of course, Marion said yes but the wedding had to wait two years while Marty served in the Army in Korea. When he returned home, they exchanged their wedding vows two weeks later before family and friends at Lodi Christian Reformed Church on March 28, 1953. They drove to Florida in that same Dodge Meadowbrook and recall being wary of sailing together in the glass-bottomed boat. Marion and Marty enjoyed almost 62 years in a blessed marriage. Marion was Marty’s sweetheart – the only girl he ever dated, because to him, there was no one that could ever top her!

After the wedding, the newlyweds came to live with Marty’s mother in Clifton. They lived there for three years and during that time, they became parents for the first time. The baby was little girl which they named Kathy. Their next home was a fixer-upper in Clifton. They lived there a little over seven years and during that time they welcomed another daughter which they named Carol. Then one day, Marion and her mom went out on one of their favorite pastime excursions – house hunting. They were checking out a model of some new homes that were being built in Wayne. They liked the home and the price was right - $24,000. Excitedly, Marion told Marty about it and they ended up moving into that house in 1963. Marty and Marion lived there for the next forty years until moving to Oak Ridge in 2003.

In his spare time, Marty enjoyed doing wood working projects in his home wood shop. He could make anything, from furniture and to even baskets. For one of his wood projects he made display cases for his Disney pin collection. He made a case for himself as well as ones for his grandson’s collections. Marty was also somewhat of a car enthusiast. It’s estimated that, over the course of his life, he had more than thirty new cars. His goal was to have a Lincoln Town Car and he achieved that goal on several occasions.

Marion was the sunshine in Marty’s life. When she passed away in 2015, the rest of his days on earth were really never better than partly cloudy. He missed her warmth , friendship, companionship, her delicious cooking, and especially sharing their mutual love for the Lord. If anything sustained Marty, it was his faith. Marty was an original member of the Pompton Plains Reformed Bible Church. He spent time every morning learning new things about God in his personal bible studies. Yet despite walking closely with the Lord his whole life, it was not until recently that Marty had the peace in his heart that comes from assurance of knowing he was going to heaven. It came in a full understanding of Hebrews 11:1 in the holy bible which reads “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

Just a few days ago, Marty had a dream that his wife Marion and his parents were greeting him with open arms in heaven. Now that Marty has passed, his faith has become sight and that dream is fully realized as he is with the Lord and reunited with those whom he loved who had gone on before him.

In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Marty’s name are asked to consider:

Wounded Warrior Project

P.O. Box 758516

Topeka, Kansas 66675-8516

Click here to download a mailable form

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To donate by phone call 855-448-3997

Whichever method you choose to donate, kindly indicate that your gift is in memory of Martin Allman and leave your name and address. Thank you.