Joseph L. Martinez was born on June 19, 1928 in Tormey, Ca. He was known to many as Pepe and was raised in Pittsburg, CA, the son of Juan and Angelina Martinez. He had two sisters, Carmen and Constance and a brother John Manuel. He served in the navy, based in San Diego where he met his wife of 53 years, Julia. Upon completing his military service, Joe moved back to Pittsburg to raise his family and worked as a meat cutter for a number of local stores in Pittsburg, completing his career at Lucky's Markets in 1990.
He leaves a daughter, Pamela Martinez Garnett and grand-daughter Sunny Garnett, a son David, and his wife Patricia. Julia preceded Joe in death in 2003 as did his grand-daugther Lauren, her husband Matthew and his great-grandchildren, Kailee and Cameron in 2005.
Joe and his wife Julie attended Good Shepard Chruch in Pittsburg for many years. He was a member of the Pittsburg Elks B.P.O.E. and a regular attendee of Pittsburg Golf Club where he played golf for many years and in more recent years met his friends for lunch and conversation.
For the past 6 years Joe has been lovingly cared for in his home by Kathy, Gordon, and Angelina Johnson as well as from their grand-children, Nico, Elijah, and Nene.
A memorial gathering will be held at a place and time to be determined at a later date. Please contact Dave Martinez at 707.703.1346 for more information. The family requests that that in leiu of flowers, donations be made to, La Casa de los Niños, P.O. Box 1355, Sebastopol, CA 95473. La Casa de los Niños is a children's enrichment project in Mexico developed as a memorial to Joe's grand-daughter and her family.