I am Ken Martinez’s mother, and I would love to share with you a little of the

life this outstanding man has lived

Ken was born with Spina bifida which meant, at that time, he would not

live over weeks Our friends and relatives started praying for this baby and now

Doctors say that it is because of a “higher power” that he is alive today, and is,

without doubt the oldest person living with his severity of Spina bifida It has not

been an easy life for Ken with many surgeries, at times not being able to walk,

suffering lack of body controls But he never let it get him down He would say

“this is the way I am, and I do what I can in the way I can do it”

Ken has many special talents: He is a gifted musician—playing the piano, guitar, and other instruments, and composing many songs While in college he was asked by many of the churches in the area to provide music for a service—playing the piano and

singing He developed a music ministry, earning money, canned goods, etc for many churches and homeless missions

He developed a love for cooking and worked in a number of restaurants as

a chef He wrote an article for a food magazine which was published One of

his favorite pastimes was to watch cooking shows on TV He also enjoys the

History and Discovery Channels Because of his personal “taste” for foods, he

sometimes has a little trouble enjoying foods prepared by other people—even

in restaurants Ken also has worked as a telemarketer, being good at it

Ken has also had a talent for writing While in college he was on the college newspaper staff and had his own satirical column Several newspapers asked him to write an article about living with Spina-bifida

One of his greatest goals was to write his life story

Ken has read all 32 Steinbeck books and owns 31 of them—two are first

editions

Ken has traveled around the world and has been to 32 countries

Ken has a great sense of humor and can be VERY funny and entertaining

His father has this talent

Ken’s life motto has been “I never fail—I just find my limits”

We are proud to call him our son

Vi Martinez, his Mother