Paul Warren Martz

Paul Warren Martz Paul Warren Martz, 76, died in his home in Poncha Springs in the presence of his children and brother on June 18th, 2023 after a lengthy illness. He was born in the Naval Hospital at San Diego, California on September 25th, 1946, the son of David Warren Martz and Kathryn Bernice Martz. He grew up in East Los Angeles, California, Fort Walton Beach, Florida and Anaheim, California, and graduated from Savanna High School in Anaheim in 1964. Paul was an exploration geologist, outdoorsman, and freelance writer. He received his BSc and MSc in Geology from the University of California at Davis in 1968 and 1970 respectively and worked for several major American and Australian exploration companies hunting ore deposits during the 1970s and 1980s, including Phelps Dodge, Jododex, Gulf Minerals, and Anaconda. He moved to Chaffee County in 1986 as owner of Shavano Glass and Engines and continued to work as a consulting geologist as owner of Headwaters Geological Consulting, most recently for Marengo Mining Ltd. His fifty years of geologic explorations took him all over the contiguous United States, as well as Alaska, Canada, Australia, Turkey, and Papua New Guinea. He was twice married, including to Della Louise Martz, the mother of his children. Paul occasionally wrote to local periodicals to comment on economic, political, and scientific issues under the pseudonym Clay Warren. He was an outspoken advocate of strengthening the American economy by developing our mining resources and believed that meteorite impacts were a significant driving force in geology. His friends will remember him as broadly educated, adventurous, intellectually creative, outgoing, loud, opinionated, politically right of center, and always willing to offer help to friends and family. Paul is predeceased by his parents, and survived by his children, Amy and Jeffrey, four grandchildren, Deja, Emmanuel, Angela, and Elijah as well as his younger siblings, Steven, Bruce, and Linda, two nieces Eleanor and Eileen, and a grand-niece, Aurelia. He was cremated at Lewis and Glen Funeral Home in Salida. There are no immediate plans for a funeral or memorial, but his family and friends will organize a memorial service in the near future.

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