Everett Martin’s family recalls his kinder side after fatal shooting
MINERAL CITY ‒ The family of Everett M. Martin gathered to reminisce about the man they say read the Bible, worked on oil rigs and couldn’t pass a motorist in distress without offering to help.
His mother, sister, son and daughter also recalled a man who could cook.
“I’m going to miss his smoked chicken,” said his sister, Betsy Martin.
“He was good at anything on the grill,” his son, Noah Martin, 20, said Thursday.
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“We ate a lot of steak growing up, steak and mashed potatoes,” said Everett’s daughter, Makayla Halverstadt-Martin, 22. “He knew he could always get us to come over if he said he was cooking.
“He loved us a lot, his kids. Anywhere I would go with him, he would be like, ‘That’s my daughter.'”
Then he’d say, “Isn’t she beautiful?” said Betsy.
Everett Martin shot and killed in Mineral City
Makayla and Noah are left with only memories and photos of the father who took them to fish and ride four-wheelers. Also left behind are their father’s three mastiffs and a St. Bernard.
Everett Martin, 43, died Wednesday morning outside the village home of a former girlfriend. Deputies from the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office fired after he shot at them, according to Sheriff Orvis L. Campbell. Investigators said the deputies acted appropriately.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation will review the agency’s actions.
Wednesday’s confrontation followed a Sept. 18 incident involving Everett and the same ex-girlfriend, in which threats were reported and a protection order was issued through New Philadelphia Municipal Court. Everett had pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated menacing and domestic violence by threats.
Betsy Martin said she wants a full investigation into her brother’s death.
“He was a good person,” Betsy Martin said. “I think he finally just snapped.
“He was big old goofball. He would always joke around. He just had a big heart. If he loved you, he loved you. And he would tell you.”
‘Always in pain’ after life-changing crash crash
Betsy said he was never violent, but could say mean things when he drank alcohol.
“As long as he wasn’t drinking, he was fine,” said Everett’s mother, Nancy Martin. “He helped if I needed something. He hasn’t been in trouble, no DUIs or nothing for a long time.”
She recalled that he was badly injured in car crash over Labor Day weekend in 2000. He was a passenger in a car when his side was hit by another vehicle. Nancy Martin said Everett had to learn to walk again because his back was broken. He lost his spleen.
“Ever since that wreck, he wasn’t the same,” Nancy Martin said. “He was lucky he lived. He was always in pain. He said his head hurt a lot.”
Betsy Martin said Everett got mad at her for authorizing doctors to do anything possible to save his life. He said she should have let him go because he’d seen heaven.
She said that after the accident, Everett shaved his head because letting his hair grow made his scar-covered head hurt.
His mother recalled that Everett was a few months old when her oldest daughter died.
“I lost it,” she said. “I always said he was the only reason I got up in the morning because I knew I had to take care of him. He’s what got me through. I always said God knew what was going to happen and that’s why he gave me him.
“I always said he was so much like his dad, even when he was little. His dad was an alcoholic, too, and gave me a lot of grief over the years. He acted like his dad. He thought like his dad.”
Her husband Gene A. “Beanie” Martin died at age 71 in 2019.
Arrangements for Everett Martin are being made with Lebold-Smith Funeral Home of Bolivar.
“I know people are sorry,” Nancy Martin said. “And people care. But there’s nothing anyone can say or do that’s going to take the hurt away. It something that time and faith and love has to heal.”
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Reach Nancy at 330-364-8402 or [email protected].
On Twitter: @nmolnarTR