The Adventures of True PK Pioneers, Bobby and Carole Martin Story by Michael Pearce | Photos courtesy of Martha Martin

Bobby and Carole Martin — photos from yesteryear and today.

Bobby Martin is the rare 90-year-old who still goes to work every day. What makes that fact even more rare is that he does it at the business he and his wife, Carole, helped start 63 years ago.

Amazingly, she’s still working at his side, too.

The Martins started their business, now called Villa Marina, in 1959 with Bobby’s brother, John, and a friend as partners. At the time, America’s president was Dwight Eisenhower, Alaska and Hawaii had just been admitted to the Union, and the idea of being able to put a man on the moon was 10 years from becoming a reality.

And Possum Kingdom Lake was pristine, Martin said.

“This area was like the frontier because there wasn’t much here,†he said. “The lake was beautiful, and the water was so clear. We didn’t have a lot of the roads we have now. If we got a rain, we needed a Jeep to get back and forth. You were pretty much on your own. If you needed something done, you had to do it yourself or find somebody who could, which wasn’t easy because there weren’t many people around.â€

And that, in a way, is what brought Martin and his wife to PK.

Martin’s assorted occupations all started with him as a young, boat-fixing genius. That led to him becoming a commercial airline pilot, which then led him back to the boating business.

“It’s been quite an adventure, I’ll tell you that,†he said. “We could talk for days, and I still couldn’t tell you the whole story.â€

Martin grew up on the shores of Eagle Mountain Lake, back when pleasure boating and powerboats were relatively new to inland parts of Texas. He had a knack for being able to build or repair anything that floated – and any engine that powered it, too. Those skills made him popular.

“That place had a nest of airline pilots,†Martin remembered of his early days at Eagle Mountain Lake. “There were a lot of them, and they seemed to think I was real smart because I built a boat that could outrun everybody, and I kept fixing their boats. They took me in and taught me how to fly. I was a commercial pilot by the time I was 21 years old.â€

Martin said he was secure in his flying career when an airline executive told him he had a place at Possum Kingdom Lake. The executive then asked Martin if he could add more power to his boat.

Nobody around Possum Kingdom back then seemed to have those skills, so Martin answered, “Sure,†and took his first trip to the lake.

He soon learned the owner of the airline had a nice ranch at PK, too.

“Every time I had a day off, they were taking me down there to work on their boats,†Martin said. “It was gorgeous. The water was so clear and pristine. There was almost nothing here, and I saw that there wasn’t a marina anywhere on the lake.â€

Martin, with his brother and a friend as partners, built the marina, but back then the lake wasn’t getting enough business for the business to support itself, so they had to diversify to pay the bills.

“I had to go back and fly for an oil company for three years to make it,†Martin said. We did so many different things. We’ve built over 100 houses and condominiums around the lake. We built and ran a restaurant and a club. I’ve been in and out of the oil business several times. We were very inexperienced and didn’t know what we were doing sometimes. We lost a lot of money and put in a lot of hard work. But we obviously did some things right. We’re still here.â€

And PK is a much better place because of the labors and investments the Martins made through the decades.

His brother and a few locals built the area’s first firetruck in the marina’s workshop. Years later, the sheriff stopped by and said his office had a chance to buy an ambulance for $1,500 but lacked the budget to do so. Martin matched the $500 from the sheriff’s office, then got a local homeowner to supply the last $500 needed to buy the ambulance.

Such generosity has been a PK trademark for many decades.

“We’ve had some pretty wealthy people who really liked it down here,†Martin said. “There were some we could go to about any time and raise money if we needed it for the good of the area. That’s made a big difference through the years. People have been so generous.â€

Martin and his wife eventually bought out their partners in the marina while also finding time to enjoy raising a family. Their oldest, Mike, was 2 years old when the couple came to PK, and David was born the same year they started the marina business. Both boys worked long hours with their parents at the marina when they were young.

The family played together, too.

In those early days, PK was clear enough for the family to scuba dive together. Both sons became water-skiing champions, and Martin taught them to fly at early ages in the same Bonanza airplane he bought in 1968. David went on to have a great career as a pilot, including winning national and world flying championships and being captain of the American aerobatic team for eight years. Sadly, Mike was killed in a car crash nearly 30 years ago.

Martin is amazed, and thrilled, at how the business climate has changed around PK in recent years.

“This place is booming right now,†Martin said. “About any (business) will work. The housing market is outstanding. Million-dollar houses are everywhere. Houses that were worth a million a few years ago now sell for $1.7 million. Houses that were worth $1.7 million now go for $3 million. Some of those little places that went for $15,000 in the 1960s are now bringing $300,000.â€

Through the years, Martin gradually sold off all the businesses, homes and condos he’d built through the decades, with the exception of the marina.

“We get offers about every month,†Martin said. “Good offers. But it’s not for sale.â€

Martin also said he’s at a good point in his life.

“I’ve been so blessed,†he said. “My wife of 67 years and I both are in good health and working together every day at a successful business we started 63 years ago. David has really come on to help with the marina. He and his wife, Martha, are so much smarter than we ever were. We’ve pretty much given David all the power to make decisions. I’ll just be working here until the end.â€

He added he also feels fortunate that his brother, John, now 92, is also in good enough health for a visit just about every day.

Martin admitted he’s not quite as quick getting in and out of boats as he used to be, but the important thing is that he still can do it. He’s out in at least one boat almost every day for regular marina chores, weather permitting.

He said he occasionally takes that old Bonanza plane airborne for a few spins over PK, and sometimes he thinks back to all that’s changed through the many years.

“You know, I don’t miss how hard the work was in those early years,†Martin said. “My gosh, we had to work so hard to keep going. But I guess also back then I remember the lake being so beautiful, so pristine and untouched. Not many people around these days who can remember that.

“Sometimes I do miss seeing the lake like what it was when we first came. It was a frontier, and we did all right. The good Lord has blessed me so many times over.â€