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Vincent Martinez has been bringing “life and color to the heart of Glen Cove” for 40 years.

Vincent Martinez has been bringing “life and color to the heart of Glen Cove” for 40 years.

Vincent Martinez likes to joke that his headstone will be placed on “Winnie’s Island,” a plot of land in Glen Cove that he has tended for four decades. On November 9, a stone will be laid there in his honor – but not quite the one he had hoped for.

For 40 years, Martinez, 89, of Glen Cove, poured his love and sweat into Winnie’s Island, a 100-foot median at the intersection of School Street, North Lane and Brewster Street, which he transformed into an extraordinary garden in the heart of the city . For the Korean War veteran, the main focus of the project is “color and people,” that is, the passers-by who interact with him while stopping at a red light or crossing a crosswalk.

And when he’s not on his island, Glen Cove residents know they can find Martinez meeting with local American Legion members under his command; helps take care of Sophie, his wife of 67 years, at home; directing traffic at the scene of a fire or vehicle accident as a member of the Glen Cove Fire Department; working out at the gym three days a week or finding new ways to honor veterans and patriotic neighbors.

“People always ask me, ‘Where do you get the energy for that?’ Martinez said one sunny day, standing on a Kentucky bluegrass he had planted in his front yard. “I say, ‘You only live once.’ »

On November 9, five days before his 90th birthday, the city of Glen Cove invites the public to the unveiling of a monument on Winnie’s Island. It’s not the stone Martinez jokes about, but rather the one that will carry a plaque courtesy of the Tribute and Honor Foundation and anonymous donors to American Legion Post 76, thanking him for “bringing life and color to the heart of Glen Cove ” from “selfless devotion”.

“Oh my god, that’s funny,” Martinez said with a smile. “The guys at the fire station say, ‘Vinny, how many coffins are you going to have?’ »

“PATRIOTIC VIEW”

When former Glen Cove City Improvement Commission Chairwoman Ruth Dobrescu spearheaded the local adoption program in 1984, Martinez said he immediately volunteered. He only knew the overgrown intersection he wanted to capture.

“I always noticed it was a mess,” Martinez recalled. “There was trash, beer cans, bottles inside.”

Over the years, Martinez said he spent more than $100 a year on flowers to transform city property into his own.

Martinez on his island in an undated photo.

Martinez on his island in an undated photo. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin

As the cars and years passed, he planted summer poinsettias, delphiniums, pink cones, peonies and, in one spot, rows of red and white begonias arranged like the stripes of a flag.

“I was trying to have this patriotic look,” he said, pointing to one of the many old photos he keeps in a huge scrapbook dedicated to his island. “I was the first volunteer and I think the last original.”

Martinez’s son, Vincent Martinez Jr., is the head of public works for the city of Glen Cove. He said while other adoptions, founded in 1984, still exist in the city, his father is the last of the original volunteers still running his lot.

Until earlier this year, when he stopped driving, Martinez said he would visit Winnie’s Island every day. He still visits several times a week, getting a five-minute ride from neighbors or his son to his second home, where the joy is more than just weeding and watering.

“I met a lot of good people,” he said. “Sometimes a good friend would come over and if I’m watering, I’ll throw water on the car.”

Mayors and council members have sent Martinez letters and certificates of appreciation for his beautification efforts over the decades, all of which have been kept. Current Glen Cove Mayor Pamela Panzenbeck called Martinez a “model citizen.”

“He made it extremely beautiful,” she said of Winnie’s Island. “People started noticing it... People would say, “Why doesn’t that Vinny guy take over the whole town?” »

She added: “We should all aspire to be like Winnie, volunteering and serving our communities. It makes the world a much better place.”

ACCESS TO THE ENTIRE FLEET

Just inside Martinez’s front door hangs a painting of the USS Zellars, one of two destroyers he says he served on during the Korean War.

After his older brother was drafted in 1950, Martinez, who said he dropped out of school in the eighth grade, wanted to join the same branch. But with the start of the Korean War, he said his mother forbade it. Instead, she allowed him to join the Navy in 1952, when he was 17, because she thought he would not see conflict.

Martinez in navy uniform at right with his brother.

Martinez in navy uniform at right with his brother. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin

“After boot camp, I went on a ship and thought I was just going to travel around the water,” Martinez recalled. “We ended up in the Korean Gulf... I didn’t know where I was, but I quickly found out.”

Martinez said he still remembers two attempts to rescue pilots who crashed in the Pacific Ocean.

“We got one, we lost one,” Martinez said. “It was heartbreaking.”

AT HOME

Shortly after Martinez was released in February 1957, he said he began seeing Sophie Scholz. They married on Sept. 1 of that year and have two children, Terry Falmholz, 64, of Queens, and Martinez Jr., 62, of Glen Cove, and three grandchildren.

“He’s a good guy, I’ll leave him,” said Sophie Martinez, 87. “I am very proud of him. I couldn’t be more proud of anyone.”

In the years following the war, Martinez found work as a postal clerk and joined the Glen Cove Fire Department’s hook and ladder company, becoming captain of the company in 1965.

He served as the fire company’s secretary from 1995 to 2001 and the fire police division’s first officer from 1991 to 2013, according to the department’s current chief, Philip Grella Jr. He added that Martinez was awarded Firefighter of the Year in 1979 and co-founded the department’s Emergency Rescue Squad, which can extricate drivers from vehicles in the event of an accident.

“He’s a great person, always likes to give back to his community, his country,” Grella Jr. said.

Some of Martinez's awards and accolades, including his 1979 Fireman...

Some of Martinez’s awards and accolades, including his 1979 Firefighter of the Year award. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin

Martinez, who joined the fire department 64 1/2 years ago, is its oldest active member. A radio scanner near his dining room table broadcasts emergency messages 24 hours a day.

“He’s still coming to challenges, still participating in drills,” Grella Jr. said. “He is part of the fire police unit. They leave, guard the perimeter of the scene” and regulate traffic.

AMERICAN LEGION, VFW

For nearly 30 years, Martinez also served as commander of the Glen Cove American Legion Post 76.

“I’m very proud to be a member of this group,” Martinez said. “Veterans always say... that once they’re friends, they’re friends for life.”

Martinez, who is also a member and former chaplain of VFW Post 347 in Glen Cove, said the Legion Post is made up of fewer than 10 elderly veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars and has struggled to attract younger members. He believes he may be the last commander in Glen Cove Post’s history and wants to begin making arrangements to transfer existing members to neighboring posts.

But members of his legion said they are proud of their post’s history and want to preserve it until it becomes impossible. And they are happy with Martinez’s leadership.

“He is very kind to all our participants... He gives us little gifts for Christmas, like poinsettias,” said American Legion Post 76 Adjutant Anthony Anzalone Jr. “We love him very much.”

Tribute to city veterinarians

When Martinez turned 80, he stepped up his efforts to honor veterans and promote patriotism in his community. For nearly 10 years, he said, he drove around the neighborhood, paying attention to homeowners with the United States flag. After learning their names, he sent them thanks on behalf of the American Legion.

He said he has sent more than 360 so far, and even though he can no longer drive, he continues to look for new flags when he is driven to fires or to Winnie’s Island.

Martinez outside his home in Glen Cove.

Martinez outside his home in Glen Cove. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca

About eight years ago, Martinez planted a stake on Winnie Island to which he affixed a plaque bearing the name of a fallen Glen Cove veteran. Every two years, he said, he changes his name.

“We have Veterans Day and Memorial Day, but there are so many veterans that should be honored in some way that they can’t honor everyone,” he said. “So every two years I honor one at my place of adoption.”

Years from now, Martinez dreams of Winnie’s Island remaining a bright spot for his city. He said he hopes his son will take a leadership position.

“That’s why he’s finally letting me go out there and work with him,” Martinez Jr. said. He said his typically reluctant father now really wants his son to hunt alongside him. “We go down to the island on a Sunday morning and spend about an hour there.”

Martinez Jr. said his father’s sense of volunteerism inspired him throughout his life. He served in the Marines from 1983 to 1986 and, like his father, is a member of the Glen Cove Fire Department.

“He taught me a lot — his volunteerism, his service,” Martinez Jr. said. “He was a really great role model.”

THE COMMUNITY THANKS YOU

The City of Glen Cove will honor Vincent Martinez with the unveiling of a monument at 10 a.m. Nov. 9 for his 40 years of caring for Winnie’s Island, located at the intersection of School Street, North Lane and Brewster Street. Everyone is welcome.