Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 05: Governance – Board of Trustees
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
Series 19: STUDENTS
Series 20: ALUMNI RELATIONS
NOTICE
We honor the memory of
JOHN “JACK”MULLINS MARTIN
b. 1929 – d. February 12, 2021
07 Jack Martin presents Robin Lambert with the key to the new Far House II, September 7, 1986.
TAGS: John Mullins Martin, John Martin, Jack Martin, students, Pine Mountain Association of Alumni and Friends, alumni, Board of Trustees, Boarding School students, William David Martin, World War II, Conifer, Partridge KY, Emma Lucy Braun, Patsy Hall Martin, homecomings
JOHN MULLINS MARTIN Student Trustee
PMSS Student 1942-1945
PMSS Alumni Association Member & President 1980s – Early 2000s
PMSS Trustee c. 1986 – c. 2000
AT PINE MOUNTAIN
John Mullins Martin, commonly known as “Jack” Martin, attended PMSS Boarding School from 1942 to 1945, following a year behind his brother, William David Martin. His time at the School was interrupted by two years in the U.S. Air Force in World War II. Afterward, he returned to complete his schooling in 1947 but was considered a member of the Class of 1945.
On page 7 of the 1944 Conifer, the School’s literary publication can be found an article submitted by Jack Martin. Titled, “Deaton’s Dilemma,” it is a tongue-in-cheek description of fellow student John Deaton’s work as “head man of the [School House] paint crew” and “fighting fire on Gabe’s Branch.”
Jack’s family had a close association with Emma Lucy Braun, Amerian botanist, ecologist and conservationist. Lucy and her sister were frequent visitors at the Mullins-Martin home at Partridge, KY. There is a mention in the biography for Emma Lucy Braun, that while visiting the School to do research in the area, she stayed “at the home of Pine Mountain student Mable Mullins and David and Jack Martin in Partridge, Kentucky, at the headwaters of the Cumberland River.” That family home was where Jack retired and where he established a woodworking shop and committed many hours of volunteer work at Pine Mountain Settlement School where he served on the Board of Trustees.
Joe Bramlett Album. David and Patsy (Hall) Martin wedding in the PMSS Chapel. Bridesmaid, Fern Hall Hayes, to her left and John Mullins Martin [Jack Martin], best man, to far right. [bram_-46.jpg]
John “Jack” Mullins Martin: ALUMNI & BOARD ACTIVITIES
John “Jack” Martin, like many former Pine Mountain students, always kept Pine Mountain Settlement School in his heart. He was active as a member of the Pine Mountain Association of Alumni and Friends from the 1970s into the early 2000s. John was elected the president of the Alumni Association in 1982, following the presidency of his sister-in-law, Patsy Hall Martin. As president, John was a representative to and a member of the PMSS Board of Trustees where he acted as the liaison between the two boards.
According to the minutes of the Pine Mountain Association of Alumni and Friends, throughout his years as president he showed a special concern for the future of Pine Mountain Settlement School. The minutes of the Association’s 1983 annual business meeting record that John Martin was the moderator of a special panel discussion about Pine Mountain’s future. The panel consisted of Dr. Willis Weatherford, president of Berea College, Springer Hoskins, Ruth Shuler Dieter, Bill Hayes, Martha Pride and Co-Directors Carol and Jim Urquhart. His in-depth association with the School was particularly useful in charting a path forward for the institution.
At the 1986 Annual Meeting of the Association, he delivered a message from the Board of Trustees: “He explained that in order to address the economic problems of the school, the emphasis of the school’s programs would change from Environmental Education to Community Programs.” He ended with the warning that there was a “crying need of defining the purpose of the school and its programs and the needs of the school” to better fulfill the central mission of the institution.
Perhaps the most compelling story of Jack Martin is found in his early letters home to his family while he was a student at Pine Mountian. The Martin family had always had a special relationship to the School starting with Jack’s Aunt, Mable Mullins, a close friend of Katherine Pettit. When Pettit journeyed over Pine Mountain she often stayed with the Martins. For example, when Katherine Pettit worked with Lucy Braun and occasionally explored the surrounding mountains of Pine Mountain and Big Black Mountain, she and Braun stayed with the Mullins-Martin family. It seemed a given that the two brothers, David and Jack, would attend Pine Mountain Settlement. Both of the brothers thrived in the environment and for a life-time promoted the institution and its service to the region.
Upon graduation, Jack never lost sight of the great gift that Pine Mountain offered to the two brothers and when he retired, he and his wife Mary Ann returned to Partridge to live. At that time Jack’s relationship to the School intensified. He developed a robust woodworking shop and again put talents learned at the School into creative wood-working projects, including the construction of a home for himself and Mary. His many contributions to the School may be found throughout many areas of the School and at the home-place in Partridge, Kentucky.
John served on the PMSS Board of Trustees from approximately 1986 to 2002.
1981 Homecoming Minutes, “Our new President & his family, Jack Martin, wife Mary Anne, Children Melinda & John…” [1981_pmss_alum_min_008.jpg]
JOHN MULLINS MARTIN: His Family
During their school years, the Martin brothers lived with their grandmother, Mrs. Jane Mullins, in their grandmother’s seven-room white-painted frame house in Partridge, Kentucky. According to the 1940 U.S. Census, Mrs. Jane Mullins, a widow who was born c. 1879, had a busy household. At that time Jane Mullins’ household included: Della, her daughter, age 53, and Della’s daughters, Janie, age 19, and Emma L., age 17. Joining them were Ida (Mullins) Martin, age 42, and her two sons (and Jane’s grandsons), David Martin, age 14, and Jack Mullins Martin, age 11.
The census indicates that John was born c. 1929 in West Virginia. His father, J.D. Martin, was born c. 1895 in Cleveland, Tennessee, and had worked as an assistant mine foreman as of 1940. His mother, Ida Mullins Martin, was born c. 1897 in Partridge, Kentucky. She was a teacher before marriage, then a social worker for two years. In 1940 she was a supervisor of a Work Projects Administration (WPA) sewing project.
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John “Jack” Mullins Martin died February 12, 2021.
Return To:
BIOGRAPHY A-Z
See Also:
WILLIAM DAVID MARTIN Student Biography
JOHN MULLINS MARTIN Correspondence I
| Title | John Mullins Martin |
| Alt. Title | John Martin ; Jack Martin ; John M. Martin ; Jack M. Martin ; |
| Identifier | https://pinemountainsettlement.net/?page_id=67933 |
| Creator | Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY |
| Alt. Creator | Helen Hayes Wykle ; Ann Angel Eberhardt |
| Subject Keyword | John Mullins Martin ; John Martin, Jack Martin ; Pine Mountain Association of Alumni and Friends ; alumni ; Board of Trustees ; boarding school students ; William David Martin ; World War II ; Conifer ; Partridge KY ; Emma Lucy Braun ; Patsy Hall Martin ; homecomings ; Mable Mullins; Katherine Pettit; Partridge, KY; |
| Subject LCSH | Martin, John Mullins, — 1929 – 2021. Pine Mountain (Ky.) Settlement School — History. Harlan County (Ky.) — History. Education — Kentucky — Harlan County. Rural schools — Kentucky — History. Schools — Appalachian Region, Southern. |
| Date | 2019-06-29 aae |
| Publisher | Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY |
| Contributor | n/a; or specify |
| Type | Collections ; text ; image ; |
| Format | Original and copies of documents and correspondence in file folders in filing cabinet. |
| Source | Series 09: Biography ; Series 19: Students ; Series 20: ALUMNI RELATIONS ; |
| Language | English |
| Relation | Is related to: John Mullins Martin Correspondence; Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections, Series 09: Biography ; Series 19: Students ; Series 20: ALUMNI RELATIONS. |
| Coverage Temporal |
1929 – 2021 |
| Coverage Spatial |
Pine Mountain, KY ; Harlan County, KY ; |
| Rights | Any display, publication or public use must credit the Pine Mountain Settlement School. Copyright retained by the creators of certain items in the collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. |
| Donor | n/a |
| Description | Core documents, correspondence, writings and administrative papers created by or addressed to John Mullins Martin; clippings, photographs, publications, illustrations by or about John Mullins Martin. |
| Acquisition | n/d |
| Citation | “[Identification of Item],” [Collection Name] [Series Number, if applicable]. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. |
| Processed By | Helen Hayes Wykle; Ann Angel Eberhardt; |
| Last Updated | 2019-08-13 hhw; 2019-10-02 hhw; 2019-11-09 aae; 2021-02-16 hhw; 2024-02-24 aae ; |
| Bibliography | |
| Sources |
“John Mullins Martin ,” Series 09: Biography, |
