Obituary of Martin Herbert Weltman

A memorial service and causal potluck to remember Marty is being held on June 11, 2016 at 11:00 am in the community room of the Durham Apartments at 7201 York Ave South, Edina, MN 55435. Family, friends, colleagues and neighbors are gathering to share memories, tears and laughter, in the style Marty most enjoyed: as a community gathered together, casually talking and enjoying FOOD!!! Plates, silverware, water, lemonade and coffee will be provided. There is a full kitchen in the community room with refrigerators, ovens, stoves and outdoor gas grills. There is a city park and walking paths behind the Durham for added kid-friendly fun. There is handicap parking by the front doors of the Durham Apartments. Otherwise, park in the parking lot behind the Durham Apartment, on the east side of the building, and enter the community room through the doors by the patio and gas grills. Although Marty has moved on, he is alive in many ways. We gather to celebrate his life and legacy. Marty was raised in Kansas City, Missouri by parents, Francis and Hildegarde Weltman. He was the middle brother of older sister, Julia, and younger sister, Marie. As a teen, Marty was regularly splitting the wooden bats as he hit baseballs. The Kansas City baseball team he was on was filled with many talented young players, many vetted for professional baseball. Yet, after much thought, Marty passed up the opportunity to play minor league baseball and moved to Iowa. He became a resident of Dibble Hall and graduated from Grinnell with a B.A. in history in 1961. Marty had a strong interest in law, but in 1965 he obtained a M.A. degree in history from the University of Minnesota. While attending the University of Minnesota, Marty lived above Mama Rosa’s. Marty fondly reminisced on his Sunday morning breakfasts with his friend, Mel Ostwald. While singing to records of a variety of spirituals, operas and other songs, Marty and Mel prepared Sunday feasts of porterhouse steaks, eggs and potatoes. It was an event that eventually included their future wives, Signa and Sharron. After graduating from the U of M, Marty was hired to teach history at Minnesota’s Anoka-Ramsey Community College. During his second year of teaching, Marty was drafted and sent to the Army’s Fort Sill in Oklahoma. Marty and Signa were married on October 10, 1966, just before moving to Fort Sill, and only two days after Mel and Sharron’s wedding. After his U.S. Army service (1966-1968), Marty returned to Anoka Ramsey Community College, where he taught until his retirement in 2002. His favorite courses to teach were Political Assassinations, Minnesota History and Aviation History. Throughout his life, Marty remained a passionate and engaged learner and professor, paying careful attention to current events and politics. It was very important for Marty to know who was telling the stories and what agendas may be influencing the information being released. He stressed that our knowledge of history and current events is influenced by the agendas of the people attempting to direct our attention and controlling what version of the history is being told and remembered. Marty was an avid reader and enjoyed listening to Democracy Now and Minnesota Public Radio. Marty was quick to engage others in discussions with his easy-going, humorous, inquisitive manner. While at Anoka Ramsey, Marty was very involved in campus, county, state and national politics. Along with attending caucuses, campaigning, picketing and lobbying, Marty served three months as a Congressional Intern for the Minnesota Education Association in Congressman Jerry Sikorsky's D.C office. Another one of his passions was singing. Marty wanted to start an opera company, but the arrival of his daughter made that impractical. Marty played with language throughout his life. He would sing songs in familiar tunes, but modify the words to share either how he was feeling or to describe what was happening around him. Marty created a unique song for his son, Ryan and daughter, Ursula. It was his way of expressing his love and humor. In some respects, one could say the early years of raising a family was a living opera. It was not unusual to hear Marty singing in his full baritone voice a short aria for duct tape as he rummaged in the garage, amongst all his tools, looking for a roll that so often fit a highly technical need. The last play on words Marty created was over the winter of 2015. He was drinking a lot of the vitamin C supplement, Emergen - C. He called it “Geronimo Juice” or, when Marty was feeling particularly playful, he announced it was time for more “Kick-a-poo Joy Juice.” Marty seised an opportunity to take an early retirement with an interest in filling his days with his grandson, Hayden, and to finish writing a number of books and prepare a multimedia presentation on the Kennedy Assassination. Unfortunately, a bite by a poisonous spider and subsequent strokes made typing impossible. Marty remained a profoundly dedicated, loving and devoted grandfather, gently guiding his grandson in all ways he possibly could. Marty is survived by both of his sisters and their children, his daughter, his grandson, and former wife. Their son, Ryan, preceded Marty with his transition in 1994, while serving as a back-country ranger in Yellowstone National Park. A scholarship in Ryan’s honor was established by Marty and others at his son’s alma mater, Anoka-Ramsey Community College, for a student involved in environmental activism.