Ronald “Ron” Martin

Ron Martin was the kind of person who made other people feel unusually brilliant, funny, and interesting when he spoke with them. He had a famously wholehearted laugh and a catch phrase of awe and curiosity, “Is that right?”

To know Ron is to know Jere, his soulmate and lifelong partner. They met in 6th grade, started dating sophomore year in high school, and married in 1969. Together, they built a life of adventure far beyond the psychological, spiritual, and geographical boundaries of their own upbringings–seeking out workshops on Buddhism, Jungian psychology, feminism, and various other healing modalities, and traveling all over the world.

They settled in Colorado Springs, where Ron got a job at Holland & Hart (where Jere’s beloved Uncle, Jack Foutch, worked), and they were determined to transform their communities in their own small ways. Ron retired from the men’s-only business club in town, citing he couldn’t be part of an organization that might one day welcome his son, but never his daughter, was proud to champion women in the firm and in his profession writ-large, and always looked for a win-win solution in his bankruptcy cases. Jere co-created the Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival–now the longest running women’s film festival in the world, approaching its 40th year–and Ron was next to her every step of the way.

They created a home where their children’s friends loved to come and hang, talking to the always open-minded Ron and Jere about everything under the sun. Jere helped Ron be brave and heal so much of his own childhood trauma through therapy, spiritual practice, and other modalities, and so Ron became an informal wounded healer for so many–making them feel unconditionally loved and capable of honesty and change.

To know Ron is also to know Chris and Courtney, his children, who he thought were the bee’s knees. He created a home where they felt entirely safe to become who they were meant to be–psychologically and economically–and so they both became tender writers. Chris is an award-winning poet who also works with nonspeaking autistic poets to create their own work. Courtney is a nonfiction writer who has written many books, and continues to carry her dad’s flame for justice through her journalism and activism. They both hope that they bring the same kind of unconditionally loving and curious listening to their work and their communities that their dad modeled for them.

Ron also deeply loved and enjoyed his daughter-in-law Mary Austin Speaker, a poet and creative director of Milkweed Editions, and John Cary, Founding President & CEO of The Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity, and his four grandchildren: Atticus (13), Maya (12), Stella (10), and Harrison (9). John stewards the continuation of Ron’s famous car–a canary yellow and lime green 1955 Bel Air Chevy convertible. Mary stewards the continuation of his inextinguishable delightability.

Ron leaves behind a beloved younger sister, “Chrissy,” and her wonderful family, as well.

Jere cared for Ron steadfastly while he transformed through his dementia for the last decade in their homes in Santa Fe and then Los Osos. In 2024, Jere and Ron moved into a new home with Courtney’s family, and Chris and his family moved three blocks away, so we could all care for him collectively in the El Cerrito hills. We remain together, the four cousins growing up side-by-side in the same schools, and eating dinner as a whole family at least once a week.

The Martin family would like to extend their deepest gratitude to the Elder Ashram community staff, who have become family through the 18 months Dad lived there, as well as Dr. Carla Perisinotto–a fierce and gifted gerontologist.

Ron loved his people most of all. He also loved skiing down the Aspen slopes, cycling through the Santa Fe streets, waking up before the sunrise over Pikes Peak, and smoking a pipe every once in a while in his backyard on Tejon Street. He was a lifelong meditator, a Beatles fan, and an excellent lawyer. Most of all, he was wise enough to laugh heartily and easily, brave enough to heal and grow, and open enough to fall madly in love with people.

Donations in his honor can be made to the Elder Ashram community where Ron lived and died, TimeSlips (an organization that is reimagining dementia care to include beautiful questions and creativity), or Upaya Zen Center, where Ron meditated.

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