Charles Richard Martinez Obituary

????Memories ???? I knew Rich from kindergarten or 1st grade on up. I lived on Harlan St, right across from his back fence. His family moved into their home on Gray St. shortly before school started. Mtn. View grade school was just a block over & across the park/baseball field. There were several guys that lived close to each other. We all played & rode our bikes...Mike Gunesch, Mike Day, John Pettit, Scott Hightower, Ron Ferguson, Rich & myself. We'd buy cherry bombs & M-80's out of the back of a car at Lakeside shopping center. Then head down to Clear Creek & watch the water explode or put them under a soup can & they flew what seemed to be a hundred feet in the air. We climbed every tree we could find from apple trees in Mike Gunesch's yard, Ash, Elm & a Mulberry tree in our yard, and those big old Katalpa trees on 41st between Fenton & Eaton. Katalpa... they had the long (12") green pods... looked like long thin cigars.. we'd gather up several dried ones & try to smoke em... haha.. not possible! We were in Cub & Boy Scouts together. We had many camping trips to the mountains, summer & winter. We each had our camping gear & we'd get our hatchets & knives so sharp we could slice paper. Once sharp, we'd stick a match in a log & see who could split it or throw the knives at a knot on a tree. One winter day with snow packed roads, Dr Day (Mike's dad & our pack leader) hooked up half a dozen sleds behind his Jeep and pulled us all through Mtn View. I remember when Rich got his Cushman Eagle scooter. It was so bright and shiny, and you only had to be 14 to drive (no license). I got to ride with him to Jr. High several times. One hot summer day we were cruising around on it & stopped at the Wheatridge Dairy on 44th and Estes. We got a couple of their big malted milk shakes & headed off to a park to enjoy them under a shade tree.... well.. the scooter didn't have buddy pegs & I was on the back holding my feet up, one malt in each hand, lightly balanced on his back flying up the road when a dog ran out in front of us... yeah, he hit the brakes hard & the momentum made me collapse both malts, right over his shoulders & down his shirt. After 10 minutes of cleanup, we made it to the park & enjoyed what was left. We had a chance to catch up at the 2012 reunion & I asked if he remembered the malted milk incident & he said "Oh heck yes, I was all sticky & it took me the rest of the afternoon to clean the scooter"! ???? So many good memories! We all miss him! God speed! ????????❤️

Rich ("Charlie to his Chicago family) was a friend of mine from fourth grade thru high school. We played on summer baseball teams together. Rich had a big Cushman scooter; I had a little one that couldn't go over 30 miles an hour. Rich was kind enough one summer day to ride out to the then-new Heritage Square in Golden. He could have made it in half the time it took me, but he was a good sport and patient. I will miss him.