| Saturday, November 9, 1996 In fond memory of Brad Martin | |
Echoes from Brad Martin "He was the nicest man. One meets someone like Brad maybe once in a lifetime." - Brad's wife, Estabana.
"Dear Stan,I wanted to offer my condolences for the passing of your partner and good friend. He was helpful in answering questions concerning Honduras and I greatly value his book." - Philip H. Gurian "Dear Stanley, Whatever are the great powers that be, they sure work in mysterious ways, and I don't think we will ever learn what exactly is going on up there. Although I never met or talked to Brad, I could really feel a strong sense of positive spirit, sincere effort, and great human love and kindness in all of the correspondence I have had with him. He was very helpful in a great many different ways. My first reaction is what can I do to comfort and support the living. I don't know any of Brad's family or close friends, so my hands are pretty tied. If you do talk to his wife and/or family, let them know he is going to be very very missed on the Internet's Honduran support networks. It looks like I will be doing a lot of volunteer work in Honduras in the near future, with a lot of thanks to Brad for help he has given me in so many different ways. I really want to dedicate something to him, whether its a playground, an orphanage, a clinic, or something. I know Brad really liked to support people who wanted to help Honduras... I once heard an old Indian Legend that says you can not measure how great a tree is until it has fallen. It also says that when a great tree falls, it spreads its seed all over. I am going to really miss Brad. Please send my sincerest sympathies to his family. "The people of Honduras are its greatest asset" - Joseph Lichtenstein
"To - BRAD MARTIN my dear friend ; I will really miss you.. Que el Senor lo tenga en su gloria, mis mas profundo pesame a su familia." - Irvin Yanez | "the people of Honduras have lost one of its greatest assets." Why is this Column Black? If is isn't black you are most likely using a browser that does not conform to current HTML standards. Unfortunately, that is not the only reason.
By Stanley Marrder Normally, this space would have provided insightful travel information for people who are interested in Honduras by Mr. Brad Martin, but this week it isn't. Our dear friend, Brad passed away two weeks ago. To those of us fortunate enough to have known him, the news were devastating. I met Brad in 1992 when he joined the catrachos list. Back then, the list was small and his presence was very visible. He contributed very useful articles to the list and was always willing to help out anyone who had Honduran Travel related questions. One evening as I was reading my AOL email, he sent me a message. I opened it at once and replied quickly hoping he would still be online and willing to chat with me in a meeting room. He was. It was a frank chat. Ever since, we have worked together as a team. Shortly I received a package in the mail. It contained a book called "Honduras Travel Tips by Brad Martin." It was well written and honest with great information on Honduras Travel. Very unbiased and insightful. The book was free. The only form of payment Brad accepted was in the form of information; experiences, opinions, updates. There was one particular line that stood out in the introduction. It read:
"The people of Honduras are its greatest asset."
I made mention of it in my thank-you message and ever since, those lines closed his electronic correspondence. One year later, we started Honduweb, a site whose name Brad was currently helping me dispute before his passing. Honduweb was a collection of information on Honduras. It had five main sections. The news section, was Honduras This Week. The art section was provided by Honduran artist Erika Bondy Pratt. The Catrachos content was provided by myself and Industry and Travel, by Brad. We completed the site in about 4 months. However I did not want to make it public until the final version was completed. We continued to work on it for over a year. It was finally introduced to the online world early this year after a meeting that we had in Houston in March. Meanwhile, Brad was also busy co-founding rec.travel.latin-america. Brad's articles on Honduran Travel elevated the image that many had of the country. His postings encouraged many to visit the country, and as was his style, he was always ready to help anyone that requested information. No messages were unanswered. In addition to the Usenet newsgroup, Brad was also a regular columnist for the Travel section of Honduras This Week Online, in this black column. Every week he had an article ready, always at least a week prior to the due date. They were all of excellent quality. We will continue to post his articles periodically on the travel section of Honduras This Week Online. In February of this year, he started a free bi-monthly email newsletter. It was called Honduras Travel Updates. Its content consisted of letters from Travelers to Honduras, and up-to-date information on current events in Honduras. All of the issues published to date are archived at: http://marrder.com/hw/travel/travelupdates.htm. Although we won't be getting a kind reply from honduras1@aol.com anymore, his articles will remain with us. I cannot help but to ask the Almighty: WHY is this column black? |
"I can remember on about 3 or 4 occasions Brad Martin helping me personally through sending me information about Honduras in response to my questions.He certainly was a kind and unselfish man.I remember telling my wife(Honduran) how nice this man was to me.I pray that the Lord will strengthen Brad's family.I believe that Brad had told me his wife was from Honduras.I have fallen involve with Honduras too.....such a beautiful country and people as well.Its my hearts desire to return to Honduras and Lord willing possibly live there someday.Again God Bless the Martins." - Robert L. Zehr
| Honduras This Week contributor dies The staff of Honduras This Week was saddened last
week by the unexpected death of contributor Brad
Martin. A self-made expert on Honduras, Martin was a
weekly contributor to the HTW On-line edition. His
column, Ecos from Honduras, covered a full range of
topics like the best places to eat in Honduras, how to
buy real estate here and where to find the best tourism
deals. His newsletter of the same name was read by
more than 500 subscribers worldwide. Martin was also
the editor of the Honduran Travel Guide, a frequent
contributor to other Latin American travel publications
and a founder of the usenet newsgroup
rec.travel.latin-america. He died of a heart attack. |
