Longtime Emporia Police Department employee Phil Martin died Tuesday evening at Newman Regional Health after a battle with cancer. Martin was 59.
Martin was retiring as Court Services director at the time of his death. He started at the Emporia Police Department in April 1977 as an administrative assistant in the Municipal Court under an Alcohol, Safety and Action Project grant. The grant was to develop better methods to assist those picked up for driving under the influence to be placed in a rehabilitation and recovery program’s to plan educational projects and to develop efficient and cost-effective procedures for the Municipal Court.
Martin returned to the city of Emporia in 1980 as a probation and parole officer and was promoted to court administrator and probation officer in October 1984. In December 1991, he was made the Court Services director, the department head for Municipal Court. According to the Emporia Police Department, Martin worked to develop ways to make the court procedures more efficient through updating software and training of personnel; developed methods to assist clients to understand how to overcome problems that put them in court; stayed up to date with various issues such as domestic violence and culture change; and stressed quality service.
Missed his party
Monday, the Emporia Police Department held a retirement reception for Martin, who was unable to attend because he was in the hospital. Colleagues and friends showed up for the reception. Pat Ford, who has been at the Emporia Police Department for 30 years, talked about Martin. Ford had known Martin for about 28 years.
“He’s a good guy,” he said on Monday. “He’s a really good guy.”
Yvonne Richard, who has worked for Martin for five years, agreed.
“He is a wonderful person,” she said Monday. “Very dedicated to his job. Very understanding of personnel.”
Richard said Martin spent a lot of time at the office trying to help Municipal Court employees as much as he could.
“He was willing to hear us out,” she said. “I enjoy(ed) working with him. He was the one who hired me. A very nice boss.”
Roxanne Desmarteau also worked under Martin in Municipal Court. She said she knew him from his years of playing softball as well as working for him.
“He was always making up puns,” she said Monday, with a laugh. “He (was) the pun master.”
Ann Tabares of the Municipal Court said she worked with Martin for 23 years. She described him as a caring, understanding supervisor.
“He loved his job,” Tabares said. “He would bend over backwards to help you. If you had a crisis in the family, he was always willing to give you time off.”
Tabares said Martin had a good sense of humor.
“He was good at giving off the little puns,” she said. “If you said something, he would come back with something.”
Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home is in charge of funeral arrangements for Martin.
Comments
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Posted by dhcc66 (anonymous) on August 13, 2008 at 3:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
so sad. phil will be sorely missed.
Posted by slipandslide (anonymous) on August 13, 2008 at 5:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
he was a great guy
Posted by Treebeard (anonymous) on August 13, 2008 at 10:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Phil Martin was a good soul. I knew Phil for more than thirty years and always found him to be soft spoken, intelligent and caring.
He was well suited for the jobs he held. It is sad that people like Phil get called so early in life. Our thoughts are with his family.
Posted by jayhawker (anonymous) on August 13, 2008 at 11:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I've known Phil for many years, and this is a great loss to our community.
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