Page 20 - voices-2025-04

Ongoing Series

A Final Chapter to a Toastmaster Mystery

Harvey Schowe

If you were driving east along I-84 on March 7, 2025, you might have noticed some unusal activity.
A crane by the Columbia’s rivers edge. If you were there at the right moment you may have seen an
upside down car pulled up from the deep murky waters and the exterior falling back so only the
chassis dangled from the cable.

To explain the importance of this event we need to return to December 7, 1958. At the time Presi-
dent Eisenhower was guiding the nation through the Vietnam War, the New York Yankees broke a tie
to win the World Series over the Milwaukee Braves, and Kenny Rogers made his first national TV per-
formance on American Bandstand. December 7, 1958 a family of five set off in high spirits to gather
christmas greenry, but never return to celebrate the holiday or any day after that.

Their disappearance remained a mystery for decades and it seemed that as the years past the rumors
continued to grow. Reported sightings of the family continued for many years. Stories circled about
the adult son and his criminal record. Suggestions that the family was not getting christmas decor
but had a “daughter in trouble” and were seeking someone to take care of it. Suspicions grew about
two mysterious men at the cafe where the family stopped for lunch.

Ken and Barbara had four children Donald Martin, Barbara Lee Martin, Virginia Ann Martin and Su-
san Margaret Martin. Donald Martin attended Grant High School and enlisted in the US Navy after
graduation. On that fateful December day the Martin’s only had their three girls with them. Up to this
time the family appeared to live a fairly typical lifestyle for the time period. Ken worked for PGE and

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