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CAROL MARTYN PASSES AWAY AT 88 …as Bonnie poses a strange Call Sign mystery! |
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Four years after her beloved Bonnie passed away
at the age of 93, his wife Carol Martyn joined him in December.
Call Sign got to know Carol quite well through the association we developed over the years with ODRTS Founder-Chairman, Bonnie Martyn. It mattered not at what time you saw either of them, they were always immaculately dressed and so dignified in everything they did. But the sad death of Carol – born Caroline – has brought a very strange and as yet unsolved mystery involving Bonnie to the pages of Call Sign… The January issue of this magazine went to print 9 days earlier than usual due to our printers early-closing for the Christmas holidays, so printing began on the week beginning Monday 18 December. Sure enough, when the proofs arrived, there on page 29 was an early photo of Bonnie Martyn. This page was allocated to Fifty Green Years, a series based on the early years of ODRTS as written by one of our members of the time under the moniker Sunset Strip and who had recently handed in his badge. The article wrote of ODRTS in the fifties and the photo of a young Bonnie was there to help bring the article to life by showing what the Founder-Chairman looked like at the time. Together with the other 39 pages, Fifty Green Years had the text proofed along with the usual process of making sure that the correct photo was attached and off went the January Call Sign. The next time anyone would see it would be when they opened the envelope containing the issue. The following day, we heard the very sad news that Carol Martyn had died and those who knew Bonnie were saying that they would now be together forever. Bonnie had always been energetic and even into his 90s, was teaching at the University of the Third Age! Carol, on the other hand, was more sedate and Bonnie would often tell Carol to |
 Bonnie with Carol at a DaC function |
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down whilst he did something in the kitchen that Carol would
always have done a few years earlier. Both Bonnie and Carol loved each other very much and Bonnie was always there to make sure that Carol, in her frailer moments, was ok. Many wondered how Carol would cope after Bonnie’s death in August 2002, but she was confident that Bonnie would always somehow be there at her side. Then came the sad news of Carol’s death, too late to go into Call Sign because of that one issue’s early publication date. So most drivers received the magazine on Saturday 23rd December with no mention of Carol’s sad passing. "It was ironical," Alan Fisher told us, "that a photo of Bonnie should be in the issue when we couldn’t pass on the sad news about his beloved wife. Then my phone rang and rang and rang again. I am usually proud that so few mistakes are discovered in Call Sign. The reason for that isn’t through luck, but because it is proofed twice." The phone calls Alan received following drivers seeing the issue all related to the same thing. On page 29, in the article on Fifty Green Years, the photo with the heading of a young Bonnie Martyn showed a big blank space with, in the top left corner, a taxi and a pair of legs that were obviously not those of our Founder-Chairman. |
 Bonnie's photo as it was laid out in the January issue just prior to printing
Where had the photo gone? |
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