Remembering a Lost Friend – Marty

Martin John Fisk

Cool as a cucumber as the diesel motor nearly drowned out the hurled threats and expletives cast his way as he sat leisurely in the tractor trailer driver seat waiting for the air pressure to build up in the brake lines. I had come to help pick the Briggs and Stratton door locks and retreated to backing him up as the doors were unlocked. What started as one man grew into a group of five or six surrounding the truck as I sat back in my truck watching Marty from aside ready to leap in should things escalate. Calm like a stone as the water flowed around him, that was the Marty I remembered.

Marty was a commercial recovery expert. Maybe the best in northern California. I remember coming into the office I managed in San Jose on many occasions surprised to find huge commercial equipment items from pavers to bulldozers that would take up large portions of the lot and Marty sitting in the office drinking coffee as if it was just another day. The guy could move mountains without breaking a sweat. I never saw anything phase him.

On November the 18^th at 8:35am, Jimmy Hunt, owner of New Era Recovery called to tell me the news. Marty had passed away. Jimmy, Marty and I, along with Werner Silber, we had all worked together for my favorite boss ever, A.M. “Bud” Krohn at National Auto Recovery Bureau (NARB) in the 1990’s until I left for banking in 97’. While I had left, they carried on, with Werner buying Golden State Recovery on the central California coast in Santa Maria and Jimmy and his sister Mary, who passed away several years ago now, starting New Era Recovery in Martinez, California where Marty joined him as a manager and an adjuster. It would be years until I saw any of them again.

Cut to 2017. Jimmy had invited me to lunch to talk shop and other things. I showed up that day at Day Break and was sitting in the office across from Jimmy, who I had seen several times at various conventions through the years. Walking through the door was an older, as we all are, yet familiar face, Marty.

His once curly brown hair had grayed, as had all of ours, but time had spared him as many wrinkles as some of us and his smile was the same. It’s funny how sometimes an old familiar face can take you back in time, and there we were, not so different as almost thirty years earlier, sitting around the front office of a repossession company talking old times and new. We had all come so far, but not so far that we lost our friendship and comradery of the past. Little did I know, but that would be the last time I saw him.

In ancient times, to have denied your enemy the pleasure of killing you in battle and to die peacefully at home in your bed, was considered the ultimate middle finger to your enemies. While Marty did not have such enemies, he deservedly died peacefully in his sleep, in bed with his wife Pamela at the age of 69. Yes 69, I had no idea. At 69 years of age, Marty was still working in the field and as productive as ever.

My friend Marty

“I consider myself to be blessed to have worked alongside of Marty for 22 yrs, he was without a doubt the most prepared worker I’ve entered encountered! His tow truck, and it was his for all intents and purposes, was stocked with every possible tool, chains, straps, wires, cords, gadgets and misc screws bolts and nuts that he could possibly need in a pinch while in the field.

When New Era Recovery decided to open a satellite office back in 2010, there was only 1 person I felt comfortable putting in that location and it was Marty. Not just because he was a licensed Qualified Manager and had experience managing an office but because of simply trusting him. He was that type of a man, loyal and trustworthy. Need help with something? He was there, ready to wrench on something with you or show you how to do it, no questions asked. He gave of himself freely.

His passing has left a void here that cannot be replaced easily, technically he was an employee, but more to the point he was our partner and friend. One of a kind and deeply missed and loved.”

Jimmy Hunt

Marty was not a COVID victim, but with limited persons being allowed to gather to pay final respects, we will likely not be allowed to attend, so this is probably the only way which we will be allowed to do so. Would I have seen Marty again soon? Probably not. But under these conditions our ability to gather and celebrate his life as friends, will doubtlessly be stolen from us and each and every one of us will have to retreat back into ourselves and mourn, celebrate and remember alone. I share this as I know that many of you may be going through, or have already gone through something similar over this wretched year.

Embrace your past. Embrace your friends and embrace your family and loved ones as best you can during these trying times. The greatest regrets are the regrets of things not done. Rest in Peace old friend, we’ll see you soon.

“Death smiles at us all, but all a man can do is smile back.” – Marcus Aurelius, Philosopher and Roman Emperor 121-180 AD.

Kevin Armstrong