Skip to content

Memories of John Clare Martin (February 25th 1935 to July 25th 2017)

Memorial Service Woodgreen Presbyterian Church, Calgary AB  

Saturday September 23rd, 2017 2pm

Burial in Kimberley Cemetery, Kimberley BC  Monday September 25th     9 am

Clare was born on a homestead near Mossleigh, Alberta on February 25th 1935. He was surrounded by family with cousins on his mother, Lenore's side and more than enough cousins on his father, Ken Martin's side.

He had two sisters, Dale and Rea and one brother, Don. His older sister, Dale Zinovich, in Kimberley, BC and his brother Don's wife, Ruby in Kelowna, BC are still living. Clare had three children, Carl, Daryl (Dede) and Judy, all born in the Kimberley Hospital 1954, 56, 57. Carl lives in Lunenburg, NS.with his wife Jill. Daryl lives in Montreal QC with her husband J. Garnet Zoellner and Judy lives in NE Calgary with her husband, Don Simmons.

Clare...father of 3, grandfather of 11 and great grandfather of 16 was appreciated in his family for his perseverence and strength as a man of outdoor skills, of careful management of his personal property even to the finest detail, of love for the Lord Jesus and for God's people, and as a man of prayer. He was determined not to get his way, but to get more glory for God. This is how he humbly preached. He read and reread the Bible often, having studied it with the best of teachers. Clare put himself aside and struggled with God to survive with his own faults and the ways other's faults made him a victim.

Because of these, he could not resist helping people in their weaknesses and failures. At Woodgreen Church, Clare was appreciated for his encouragement, his knowledge of the Scriptures, his hospitable, welcoming personality and his pastor's heart.

Clare was ordained as a pastor in Kimberley BC at St Andrews Presbyterian Church and was also pastor of a church in Nelson, BC and one in Edmonton AB. He was an elder emeritus in Woodgreen PCA Church, Calgary.

He lived in Western Canada most of his life, with some time spent in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for studies and in Kitchener, Ontario as a church planter. He had worked for COMINCO mining and smelting company and had been a woodsman and operated a portable sawmill.

He drove an adapted van for the City of Calgary's disabled people. He rode a bike, played a few musical instruments and sang, liked to fish, could fix cars (back when they were fixable). He hated to swim, did not like people moving things out of their place, or being wasteful.

His wife of 61 years, Pat, was (most often) willing to keep pace with him and do as he said. He must have had good ideas! She was so grateful to him for how he cared for her before she died on June 3, 2015.

He bought a plot in the cemetery in Kimberley where she was born Patricia Ann Botterill, where they met, married and their children were born. They are both missed.

His daughter Judy says, "You blink and they're gone." Clare was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease but in the end it was mesothelioma cancer that took him on July 25th 2017 at his home in Calgary where he was being cared for by his family.

The writer of letters in the New Testament says "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." (I Corinthians 15.52). Clare was changed and raised imperishable. This is what Christians believe.



Your condolences will be approved within one business day. You will need a valid Facebook account. Please email us if you have any questions.