1974 Mazda pickup with Pioneer Super Tuner a regency 8 channel scanner and a Regency 4 channel 2 way public safety radio used in DHS Child Protective Services in conjunction with the Ector County Sheriff's Dept.

Regular turtle visitor

Marcie - Martin's Admin Assistant • Beverly CPS

Cheryl in Social Services at Andrews Hwy Offices

Martin's Odessa office 1977.  The orange high back office chair was provided by the County, however caused great consternation to the State Property Manager, as it was not standard issue. (:-)

ECCS Staff

Kelly and Brandy - Cheryl & Martin

Martin (left) conducting ECCS Child Welfare Board meeting in 1977 with co- Supervisor Jane Connor. Martin had worked with this core group for seven years. We'd more than doubled Ector County's financial participation in the Ector County Children's Services (ECCS). Our ECCS was able to better support ECCS foster children and parents, as well as provide more essential medical and other services to the families we served. It made ECCS one of the most effective CPS entities in the State. We maintained great foster parents, never lost a child in our custody and provided many options for families we served. The Regional DHS Program Director for CPS was Molly Whittington (seated to Martin's right. Dr. First (long time supporter is to her right). She attended this meeting and was sharing with the ECCS Board that the State DHS CPS was taking more control of county services. Our Board members were not happy.

 

 

 

03/05/77 Cheryl & Martin went to see Fleetwood Mac concert in Lubbock

March 31, 1977 ECCS Foster Care Banquet

View more Ector County Children's Services history at this link

Martin was Master of Ceremonies

Ronnie & Jane Conner with ECCS Board Chair Dr. First

Rev. Miller gave key note address to  the banquet.

Sylvia took photos

Dr. First (top left) and Beverly (rt) visiting with ECCS foster parents

James and Susie

Foster parents with Billie O'Dowdy

Ronnie Sanchez and his wife

04/02/77 Alpine - Dad,Bitsie, Mom, Cherry, Brindle & Martin

04/16/77 Parents in Odessa

04/16/77 Parents in Odessa at Cheryl & Martin's Brentwood home

Martin's Odessa office 1977.  The orange high back office chair was provided by the County, however caused great consternation to the State Property Manager, as it was not standard issue. (:-)

 

Cheryl with Brandy and Kellly

Brandy 1977 Brentwood, Odessa, TX

Brandy with her pups & below with Kelly

Kelly & mother Brandy 1977

Brandy 1977

Kelly 1977

04/02/77 Alpine Dad's Birthday - Dad • Bitsi and Kelly

Cheryl & Kelly

April 16, 1977 Mom and Dad in Odessa at Brentwood  house

Cheryl Odessa Brentwood kitchen

Mom's needlwork cross

Judge Roy Beans JP court on way to Alpine

Cathedral Mountain from Marfa to Alpine highway

When the tornado hit Monahans on April 19, 1977, Martin and Louie Thorp went to assist.

A tornado hit Monahans on April 19, 1977. Here are some of Martin's photos.

 

051877 Pat & Curtis' wedding (Curtis was on Odessa City Council and presented Martin with plaques before we moved to El Paso)

Cheryl and Brandy

070177 Carol let me know Tonya was gone. At some point Carol had shared with me that Richard had abused both Baron and Tonya most likely because they were remembrances of Martin. At one point Richard had been so intense Carol sank into a catatonic trance state.

 

 

 

07/29/77 Picked up LeBaron

Martin's Mom& Dad visited England and Scotland in 1977

Mom at Stonehenge

091677 Cheryl & M Ruidosa, Flagstaff, Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Diego

09/16/77 Cheryl & Martin drove to Ruidosa, Flagstaff, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and the Grand Canyon. In Vegas we went to several shows including Ben Vereen's performance.

Ben Vereen

San Diego Sept '77

Golden Gate Bridge built 1933 to 1937

Went through the Los Angeles movie studios with demonstrations of how they performed special effects.

Alcatraz

Black's Beach CA

 

In Los Angeles we also went to a shooting of the Midnight Special. When we told Jane Conner we were going, she said her brother Red Roe was the house sound engineer and he could get us access. He did! It turned out  that in addition to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Ben Vereen was the act. So we saw his show twice, once in Vegas and once in LA.

Sailing Sept 16, 1977

September 16, 1977 Cheryl & Martin Grand Canyon

070677 & 070777 Mike Murray training

08/01/77 Parents leave for UK trip

 

 

In 1977 Cheryl and Martin travelled to Huntsville, AL where Mike and Cindy moved for Mike's work with NASA. They also went to Chattanooga, TN

Mansion tour in Chattanooga, TN

Martin promoted to Tx DHS Training Director 11/07/77

10/12/77 Martin bought a Chevy Silverado pickup in Odessa to carry recording gear, however it made more sense to have an air conditioned van vs just a camper. An unsold '77 Dodge van was found and bought in Big Springs Texas on 08/16/78

10/30/77 Martin Austin 1 week orientation for training Director

10/30/77 Midland DHS trainers Louie Thorp & Carol Turner at Austin DHS Staff Development Training

Ken Burks and his family at DHS reception at the Zilker Clubhouse.  Ken was a trainer for TDHS and later headed the MHMR Training Division

10/30/77 DHS Staff Dev Training - Art Hopkins & Bill Pace

10/30/77 Martin went to Austin for a one week orientation for Texas DHS training directors.

11/03/77 Moved from Andrews highway DHS office to the new DHS Midland Training Center. He began commuting from His home in Odessa to the Midland office. Strange because when he and Carol  moved to Midland in 1970, Martin was commuting from Midland to Odessa every day until they built their Odessa home.

Midland DHS Training Staff 1977 • Back row: Martin, Louie, Jane, _, Johnny, Carol and Glenn

Midland DHS Staff Development support staff

 

Louie and Ron Conner during snow at the Midland DHS training center

Brandy snow Brentwood  back yard Odessa

In 11/14/77 Martin acquired Teac equipment for Phantom Productions, Inc.

With this equipment Martin began completing on location albums around Texas for Austin Custom Records.

I bought a 100'snake and 11/1/877 had 50" mic cables cut by Radio Shack

I then needed mic cables to go from the mics to the snake. So I went to the Radio Shack in Odessa and asked for four 50 foot mic cables and the necessary connectors. The salesperson said they did not have 50 foot cables, just raw cable on a reel. So I said lets just measure four 50 foot lengths off the reel. He said, we don’t have a tape measure. I said, “Do you have a yard stick?” “Yes” he answered. So we take three yard stick lengths, add one foot for ten feet and then use that five times to get 50 feet. “Oh, Okay!”

So we measure the first 10 feet and he cuts he wire. I say “No I don’t want 10 feet, I need 50 feet.” “Oh right.” We finish measuring the four 50 foot cables and there is a bit of cable still on the reel. He said “do you want that?” I said sure just leave it on that last 50 foot cable.” Snip! “No, now I don’t want that short piece by itself.” Argh!

Odessa, Texas on-location recording

 

Due to all the club noise, Martin asked this Odessa band if he could use their equipment truck for isolation in mixing the live recording.

The success of that set-up resulted in Phantom's creating the on-location van below (bought new '77 Dodge van that had not  been sold in Big Springs, TX 09/05/78).

Phantom's on-location recording set-up in the late 1970s included the TeacA-3340, Teac mixer, Teac A-3300 2T master recorder, Tapco 4400 reverb and Marantz cassette master.  Operating out of the Odessa/Midland, Texas area, Phantom began completing on-location recordings for bands, schools and churches. Austin Custom Records contracted with Phantom for albums in the Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston areas.

Cheryl with recording equipment another on-location church

11/20/77 Newbirth Baptist Church Dallas for Austin Custom Records

11/22/77 Parents & sister Odessa

Dad taking photo in Brentwood home

1977 Thanksgiving at Cheryl & Martin's home on Brentwood in Odessa.

Back row - Tom Karvonen, Karl K, Mr. Carter

Front  row - George K, Peggy, Karen, Cheryl Mrs. Carter, Cindy Carter

11/22/77 Thanksgiving at Cheryl and Martin's home in Odessa with Martin's parents and Peggy's family

Children's Services Christmas party 1977 on Brentwood

Children's Services party 1977 on Brentwood

102077 Sylvia lunch

Brandy and Kelly on couch 12/25/23

12/29/77 Dad's surgery Odessa Medical Center Hospital

12/23/77 Ruidosa

12/23/77 Martin, Cheryl, Mr. Carter, Mrs. Carter, Cindy and Mike at the Carter's second house in Ruidosa, NM