Martin and his wife, Barbara, moved 10 years ago to Bend, Ore., where he died Feb. 22 from pneumonia. He was 86 years old.

Born on Dec. 6, 1916, in Hamlin, Texas, Martin graduated from Texas A&M University in 1939 with a degree in mechanical engineering. One year later he completed training as a naval aviator with the U.S. Naval Air Station in Florida. He was immediately stationed in Honolulu at Pearl Harbor. It was there that he met his future wife, Barbara Dow. They were married on Nov. 29, 1941, just days before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Martin spent 22 years flying for the Navy, traveling to China, Japan, Australia and Alaska. He retired in 1961 as a flight commander and soon moved to Saratoga, where he and Barbara became one of the first couples to move into the George Day development on Aloha Avenue.

After moving to Saratoga, Martin took a job as a mechanical engineer and plans coordinator for Lockheed Martin. He worked there until his retirement in 1982.

Among current and former Aloha Avenue residents, Martin is best known for his post-retirement work as a master dollhouse creator. He built several three-story Victorian mansions—all handmade with detailed fixtures and working electricity—for neighborhood children.

His work was so impressive, elementary school classrooms would take field trips to his garage, where Martin worked for nearly a year on each dollhouse.

The houses were several feet in length and height, all painstakingly intricate, as it could take a full month to complete just the roof or the individually carved dowels for banisters and staircases.

Neighbor Gay Crawford was fortunate enough to receive a dollhouse, which was made for her daughter Katharine "Casey" Crawford in 1986. The house was light blue with white trim, measuring 4 feet high and 5 feet long and equipped with three fireplaces, two chimneys, five types of wood flooring and an electrical system with 12 ceiling and wall lights.

Gay describes Martin as a wonderful man, who along with his wife "were the grandparents for everyone around them." She kept a thorough record of his work and his press clippings, enthusiastically describing his dollhouses as "magnificent."

This was the last house he built before moving with his wife to Oregon.

Former neighbor Caryl Pozos agrees with Crawford that Martin had a strong presence within the community. "He and his wife were the sort of people who everyone looked to on the street for sage advice," she says. "He was a very family-minded, caring and giving person. It was a real loss when he left the neighborhood. It was like losing a member of the family."

Aside from his dollhouse work, Martin was an avid reader of World War II books and a craftsman of other pursuits, known to create and refinish just about any end table or hutch for his neighbors.

Former neighbor Sally Antonides still has several pieces Martin built for her. She also proudly displays the Mary Poppins­type dollhouse he built for her family, which has been shown in two museum exhibits.

"He could make or do anything, given the time," she says. "He was very special to everyone in the community."

Antonides says the neighborhood children were very eager to spend time with him, as they would take turns learning to swim at the Martins' pool or learning about his vast array of tools. "He was a really wonderful person; we were just so lucky that we had him next door for that long. Our life is certainly better having known him."

Martin is survived by his wife, Barbara, of Oregon and daughter Susan Bunzow of Campbell. No services were held, per his request. His ashes will be in the care of Barbara until her death, when the two will then be interred at Madronia Cemetery in Saratoga.