Michael Dean Martin

Memorial Service

Saturday, May 9th, 2026

10:00am - 11:00am

Landmark Funeral Home

4200 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood Fl 33021

Michael Dean Martin, age 97, passed away on March 27, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Born on January 30th, 1929, to Marion Monroe Martin and Mildred Kathryn Burke, Michael treasured growing up in his hometown, Mena, Arkansas, where his father, Mon, served as County Judge and his mother, Mildred, as a Circuit Court Clerk in the Mena Courthouse. His family, including his two brothers, Burke and Robert and his sister, Barbara, regularly attended St. Agnes Catholic Church, where young Michael assisted Father Gallagher as an altar boy.

After proudly serving four years in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War from 1950-1954, Michael returned home and attended North Texas State University in Denton, Texas, where he graduated with a degree in Political Science. During that time, he also spent summers working on the Magnolia Petroleum/Mobil pipeline in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Michael especially cherished the close relationship he shared with his brother, Robert “Hal.” Both were Big Band Music fans. Throughout their lives they would regularly spend hours on the phone reminiscing and catching up on Mena and family news. In the years to come, whenever possible, Michael looked forward to returning to his hometown to see Hal, visit his close friends, and attend his high school reunion. In turn, on many occasions, Hal would also visit Michael and his family in Miami, Florida.

 In August 1957, Michael fulfilled a lifetime promise he made to himself as a young man, which was to move as far south, away from the cold weather as he could, and he did, to Miami, one of the Southernmost Cities on the U.S. map. Though he left Mena, he held the small town in his heart and made sure to keep in touch with his family and friends.

After arriving in Florida and finding a job as a traveling salesman for the Mead Paper Company, Michael met the woman he would wed, Shirley Ann Heath, a switchboard operator who had graduated from Miami High. They purchased their first house in West Palm Beach with help of his G.I. Bill. Soon after, Michael decided to change careers, becoming an exterminator, then eventually a Branch Manager, for Orkin Pest Control.

During their marriage, Michael and Shirley had a daughter, Karen Lynn, and a son, Mark Monroe, both of whom Michael would go on to raise mostly on his own. The trio would support each other in the decades that followed, and together would help Michael build his own company, Martin Pest Control, which lasted over 20 years. During that time, he took a second job at Burdines Department Store, where he was hired as the only part-time Sunday Store Manager and remained so for over two decades.

He loved his children, adored his grandchildren and son-in-law, and garnered great joy from taking care of the house he had built for himself and his family in Ocala, Florida. It was there he would retire in September 1995.

Michael is forever loved and deeply missed. He is survived by his son, Mark Monroe, his daughter, Karen Lynn Cohen, her husband, Dr. Brett Cohen, and their children, Noah Scott, Jared Devin, and Jolie Skye.