Hamilton

I met Marty in grade 9 at Lakewood school in Prince George. I was a budding guitarist at the time and kind of a class funnyman. One day while trying to disrupt the class, the teacher sent me to sit with that quiet boy, who turned out to be Marty. Although pretty shy (having just moved up from Williams Lake and not knowing many kids) him and I hit it off immediately. We soon discovered that we both shared a deep love of music and lot of the same bands. After about a week or so he told me that he had a little band, but they needed someone to play bass, as their current bass guy had no idea how to play but had gear. I said I never played bass before but Marty assured me that it was just like playing guitar but the strings were bigger. He told me to come to his place after school and we would jam. Well, that from that day forward, Marty and I were pretty much inseparable. We learned a lot of songs together with our drummer Roy Unruh and we all had a joyous time playing music. Marty was so good on the guitar, I remember being in awe of some of the stuff that was coming out of his amplifier. I owe the love of playing bass to my dear departed friend Marty. I could never hope to be the guitarist Marty was but I had the time of my life laying down basslines he helped me with, so he could solo over them. We explored all kinds of music together and spent time on McLeish Lake with his parents and brother and sister. I moved away to Alberta in 1974 to find work and as time went by, I, lost track of him...I heard he was living in the Kootenay's, but no one knew where. I never did see him again but my memories of him and the friendship we had, have stayed with me all these years. He was my one of my two best friends and I was blessed to have known him and played music with him. He was a gentleman and a super guy. All I can do now is miss him even more.