Henry Crawley Martin, Jr., 82, born on February 28, 1942, in Elizabeth City County, Virginia, now the city  of Hampton, Virginia, only child of Henry C. Martin, Sr., and Marie P. (Groton) Martin, died peacefully at home in Hampton on Wednesday, May 1, 2024.

Henry graduated from Randolph-Macon Academy in Front Royal, Virginia, in 1961, and attended V. P. I. (VA Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia, briefly before enlisting in the U. S. Navy as an electronics tech in the (Nuclear) Submarine Service during the Vietnam era. It was during this time at his last duty station at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, that he met and married his wife of 53 years, Kathleen Dolan (Kathy,) in 1971.

When he left the service in 1971, they relocated back to Hampton, where they had three sons. Henry took over the family business, Martin and Richardson Seafood, and then worked for VEPCO (now Dominion Energy,) at the Nuclear Power Simulator Training Facility in Surry, VA. During this time he was also an EMT with the Isle of Wight Volunteer Rescue Squad. In 1982, the family relocated to Newington, CT, where they had a daughter and lived for over 30 years. In Connecticut, Henry worked for Northeast Utilities, first on the team building a Simulator Training facility at the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant in Waterford, CT, and later as an IT Hardware Supervisor at Headquarters in Berlin, CT. After retiring, Henry and Kathy returned to his childhood home in Hampton in 2014.

Henry studied piano, including classical music, and later taught himself to play the guitar and bugle. He had a great singing voice and loved Irish music. Henry is also remembered for his curiosity, always wanting to learn everything he could about subjects that interested him. This led him to many hobbies and passions over the years, often shared with his children. He attended Boy Scout meetings with his sons and took them camping, he coached his daughter's softball team for several years and bestowed a love of the water on all his children, teaching them to crab and fish. He was an avid SCUBA diver and taught his wife to SCUBA dive. He was an enthusiastic gardener, both indoor and outdoor. He raised tropical fish and built several fish tanks. He enjoyed CB radio. He studied Tai Chi and was an excellent chef of Asian cuisine. He spent a great deal of time researching his genealogy in Virginia. He was an avid birdwatcher and an early technology enthusiast, building his own television and several computers. A true Jack-of-all-trades, his 5-year-old son once told a friend with a broken toy, "Don't cry, my dad can fix anything!" Henry always had a project in progress like the finished basement and large deck he built at his Newington home.

He is predeceased by his mother and father, Marie P. Groton and Henry C. Martin, Sr. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Kathleen Dolan Martin; sons, Sean Hugh Martin in NJ, Shane Henry Martin in WI, Colin Wade Martin in CT; daughter Caitlin Martin Smith and son-in-law Ernest Smith of Hampton; granddaughters Kieran Rae Martin in NJ, Samantha Jane Martin and Madeline Marie Martin, both in CT. Henry adored his granddaughters, and loved dressing up as Santa when the girls were younger. Henry is also survived by brothers and sisters-in-law: Maureen M. Dolan, William F. and Sue-Anne Dolan, and Joseph D. and Karen Dolan, all of Worcester, MA. Henry also leaves many cousins, nieces, nephews, grandnephews and grandnieces. He will be missed.

Visiting hours will be from 9 AM to 10 AM, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, at R. Hayden Smith Funeral Home at 245 S. Armistead Avenue in Hampton, with a Remembrance Gathering immediately following. To watch this service live, please click HERE after 9:55. Interment will be at Parklawn Memorial Park, 2551 N. Armistead Avenue in Hampton, at 11 AM.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Attn: Membership Dept., 6 Herndon Ave., Annapolis MD, 21403. (Ph 410-268-8816).