Daily Sitka Sentinel

Krist Martinsen

Krist Martinsen

Krist Martinsen was born August 7, 1953, in Seattle, Wash. He would reminisce about spending endless hours playing with friends on the beach, skim boarding or building forts in the vacant lot across the street.
Early on he started making money by mowing lawns, delivering newspapers, painting and washing boats. It was from his earnings and savings that he was able to buy his first Volvo PV 544. It needed a new engine before he could drive it, so his talent of working on cars was refined. At age 17 he was hired at Foreign Auto in Ballard to work on Volvos.
He met Marta Kurtz in 1971 and in 1975 she notified him that she was hired by the Hoonah School District. He decided to go ahead of her, and took a job at the Yes Bay Lodge near Ketchikan to run a skiff and take customers out fishing. In December of that year Krist and Marta were married and continued to live in Hoonah for 25 years.
In 2000 Krist and Marta moved to Sitka where he continued to fish and greet everyone he met on the dock. Krist never met a stranger.
Krist fished out of a skiff with a hand troll permit, then a double-ended wood troller, the Grace, with a power permit, and finally a glass boat named the Constance. He was successful in all of his endeavors.
Krist liked talking to and helping people. He volunteered to put a roof on a friend’s house after a tree came through and into the bedroom. He helped a friend get a roof on a new house before the snow came.
He also completely remodeled two well-weathered boats, which was no small job. He did many other jobs which he was paid for as well.
He modeled good boat maintenance and was always answering questions about engines, painting, fiberglassing, woodworking, etc. Krist was a wealth of information, and a very curious thinker.
In 2011 he was forced to retire from fishing due to health issues.
Krist and Marta’s two sons, Olin and Karl, have followed in their father’s path and now run the Constance.
On July 17, 2018, Krist passed away quietly at home. He will be missed by all, his family said.