Ben H. Martin

Ben was born at home in Crewe, Virginia on June 14, 1924 to John and Laura Etta (Hege) Martin.  After a brief time living in Canada, his family moved to a farm in Crystal Lake. He met his wife Donna (Brogren) at church in the youth group in 1945 and they were married on June 13, 1948.  He worked as a mechanic at John Deere for a few years, then took over running a dairy farm in Ridgefield, where his boss said, “anything he sets his heart to, Ben can do”.  Next he started working for Serv-All, a local tool and die company as a machinist. He worked there for many years until his retirement having risen to the position as Plant Manager.

Ben gave his life to Christ as a young man and spent the rest of his life in His service.  He served in many capacities at The Evangelical Free Church where he was a member for 78 years.  He served on the church board as a trustee, headed Boys’ Brigade club, taught Sunday School, Jr. High youth leader, lead men’s Bible studies, mentored younger men, and worked in the nursery (where he was always given the crying babies to soothe).  He worked as the church building and grounds custodian for 15 years as a side job, enlisting all of his children to be workers alongside him.  Through this we not only got to spend time working with him and receiving our allowance from the pay he earned, but learning his strong work ethic.  His servant’s heart was also displayed in plowing his neighbors’ driveways, helping widows, taking care of those who were home bound, and in his retirement years setting up chairs each Saturday for the Sunday service for many years and mowing the lawn until he was 90 years old.

Ben also loved to garden.  He always had beautiful flowers around the yard and had a large vegetable garden which kept the family well fed with good, fresh produce.  He could fix just about anything and also enjoyed building things from doll houses to rooms in the house, and even dug out a basement from a crawl space.  He loved to read and loved to tell stories.

Ben lived a life growing in his love for His Lord and serving Him.  He was a man who loved his family and always did whatever it took to take care of them, and was well loved and respected by those with whom he worked and served.

Ben is survived by his wife of 72 years, Donna; his children, Kathy (Jim) Gesell, Debbie (Pat) Pazdziora, Larry (Sharon) Martin, Bonnie (Kevin) Kerr, Rebekah Martin (Karen Rundquist); grandchildren, Tim (Glori) Gesell, Dan (Katie) Gesell, Christy (David) Pranga, Peter (Nicki) Martin, Laura Martin, Rachael (Michael) Marks, Eric Pazdziora, John (Rebecca) Pazdziora, and Brenna (Caleb) Haubold; and 12 great grandchildren (with 2 more on the way).

There will be a visitation at the Evangelical Free Church of Crystal Lake, 575 E Crystal Lake Ave. Crystal Lake, IL on Thursday, March 11 at 10:30 am and the funeral service will follow at 11:30 am.  For those unable to attend in person, please join us via livestream at www.efccl.org .

In lieu of flowers, you may make donations to The Evangelical Free Church.