Folsom Funeral Service

Chester E. McMartin, a resident of West Roxbury, passed away on June 1, 2012.  He was 99.  Chester was born on April 25, 1913 in Silver Creek, Iowa to Ernest and Rose (Hendricks) McMartin.  He spent his childhood on the family farm in Iowa.  After graduating high school, he decided to hitchhike up the West Coast for a year.  He ended up in Montana, where he got a job working as a playground monitor at the YMCA.  Chester decided that it was time to go college with encouragement of the “Y”staff.  He hitchhiked to Chicago where he attended George Williams College, now a part of Aurora University, where he studied field engineering.

Chester met Helen Harvey working at a camp for diabetic and epileptic children.  Their courtship lasted for two years before the couple married in 1937 and settled just outside of Chicago.  In 1941, Chester found employment working on the Manhattan Project, a covert government operation that was created to develop the first atomic bombs during World War II.  He tested materials and designed manipulators.

Chester and Helen, in later years, welcomed two children,  a son Lawrence and a daughter, Betsey.  The family enjoyed camping trips, kite making and gold mining in Montana with Helen’s father.   After retiring from Ametek Corporation, a company he was employed for 34 years, Chester and Helen volunteered for the Red Cross . They traveled all over the Caribbean and parts of Florida during that time.  In recent years, Chester has been a resident of Edelweiss Village in West Roxbury.  He was known to be extremely social and was very involved in planning and running activities for the residents.  He also loved gardening in the summertime.

Chester was predeceased by his wife Helen (Harvey) as well as his children, Lawrence McMartin and Betsey Gille.  He is survived by his granddaughter, Michelle McMartin of Chicago, as well as several nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.  Interment and services will be private.  In lieu of flowers donations in his memory may be made to the Deutsches Altenheim Activities Fund, 2220 Centre St., West Roxbury, MA 02132.

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