Ross Martinez

HELPING PEOPLE OVER THE LANGUAGE BARRIER

Honored November, 1996

Ross Martinez

If you spoke only Spanish and needed help filling out government affiliated applications written in English, Ross Martinez, who died in 2000, helped.  He was known in Santa Cruz for helping his neighbors who didn’t read English obtain their Social Security benefits and file their taxes.  For years, people showed up on his doorstep, bewildered by the English language, not to mention the bureaucratese that came with it and he did not charge a peso.  “I do it because I feel sorry for them.  If I don’t do it, who will?  Who can they go to?”  The people he helped often gave him a bushel of apples, elk meat, berry bushes or anything else they might have to spare.  Martinez said he suspects that his grandfathers might have sparked his penchant for helping people.  One grandfather was persecuted as a Jew in Palestine and in Spain in the late 1800’s, which gave Martinez, a strong love for political, personal and religious freedom.  Martinez’s other grandfather set an example by helping anyone who needed it.  “One code of honor he had was never to charge for services.  It was done in the name of God and charity, and I guess that attitude stayed with me.”

Photo © 1996 by Steven Northup