PORTLAND – Charles L. Martin, 53, of Varney Mill Road, died Feb. 9, at a Portland hospital after a long illness.

Born in Portland on Sep. 26, 1951, he was the son of Ralph and Esther (Meserve) Martin. He was educated in Gorham schools, graduating from Gorham High School, Class of 1969, and later attended the former Central Maine Technical College in Auburn.

He was employed as a truck driver for most of his life, and drove for several local companies. For the last several years, he drove for Fed Ex Freight.

An avid race fan, “Charlie” drove race cars from 1968 to 1993. He was well known at local tracks, including Oxford Plains and Wiscasset Speedway, winning three championships at Oxford and one championship at Wiscasset Speedway in the late 70s and early 80s in the charger division. He enjoyed traveling to race tracks such as Daytona, Martinsville, Pocono and Loudon, all the while rooting for Dale Earnhardt Sr.

In the last few years, however, his favorite driver was his son Carey. As ill as he was, he would still manage to head to the races on Saturday night to watch him race.

In 2003, he was able to be at the track when Carey won the Limited division Championship at Oxford Plains Speedway.

Fishing, ice fishing, snowmobiling, and four wheeling were also of interest to him, as well as hunting of all kinds.

Two years ago, Charlie bagged the trophy of a lifetime, a 265 pound, 9-point buck. The family camp on Stearns Pond in Sweden was a special place for him, built by his dad. It was a place the whole family enjoyed spending time. He also looked forward to his time spent babysitting his youngest grand daughter, Madison.

Survivors include his wife, Donna L. (Fernald) Martin, of Windham; a son, Carey J. Martin and his wife, Wanda, of Denmark; his daughter, Colleen J. Morse and her husband, Troy, of Bridgton; and five grandchildren, Leora Greenleaf, Kayla Greenleaf, CJ Martin, Allison Morse and Madison Morse.

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