Inspector Manuel Martinez passes away

Obituary: Martinez, a man of principle, earned respect

Web Posted: 09/25/2007 12:53 AM CDT

Michelle De La Rosa
Express-News Staff Writer

Manuel Martinez climbed the ranks of the San Antonio Police Department to become the city's first Hispanic inspector — today's equivalent of deputy chief.

Along the way, he earned deep respect from the men he supervised and the family for which he provided.

"He was the epitome of what every man aspires to be," said Larry Findley, who worked under Martinez when Martinez was a shift captain in the 1960s. "He was just a great man."

Martinez died Sunday at 94.

Friends and family remembered him as a principled man who knew how to dish out discipline without making others feel bad about themselves.

Manuel G. Martinez Born: May 30, 1913 Died: Sept. 23, 2007 Survived by: His wife, Beatrice; daughters Gloria De Volld, Sylvia Gonzalez and her husband, Joe, and Rose Falkenbach and her husband, Jim; a sister, Irene Vera; grandchildren Elizabeth Gonzalez, Anthony and Angela Alvarado and Bea, Lawrence and William De Volld; and three great-grandchildren. Services: Rosary at 7 p.m. Thursday at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church at 700 Dewhurst Road; Mass at 11:30 a.m. Friday, also at St. Gregory, with interment following at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

"He never raised his voice," said Sylvia Gonzalez, one of Martinez's three daughters. "He never fussed at us. He talked to us about things. He told me, 'Don't ever do anything you'll be ashamed of, and that way you can hold your head high.'"

He lived by those sage words, friends and family members said.

Martinez, a native of Texas City, quit school when he was 11 and worked as a railroad clerk to help support his mother and three sisters after his father died, Gonzalez said.

His family moved to the South Side in 1928, and after doing hard labor, he eventually earned his General Educational Development diploma so he could attend the police academy.

Martinez graduated from the city's first formal police academy in 1939 — he was in the inaugural class — and went on to become the first Hispanic in the SAPD to earn the rank of inspector.

"My father had a fifth-grade education, and he worked and studied, and he went all the way up the Police Department. Every step," said Rose Falkenbach, Martinez's youngest daughter. "We were so proud of him."

His ascent in the department came after he returned from World War II, where he served as a Marine on the battleship USS West Virginia.

He retired from SAPD in 1977 as a deputy chief after 38 years of service. And he didn't slow down.

Martinez continued traveling with his wife, Beatrice, to whom he was married 65 years. He walked daily and continued hunting until he was in his 90s, even camping out on some occasions.

"My father would rough it," Gonzalez said.