Longboat Key family celebrates strong ties and long history in the area

Shirley and Warner “Buck” Martin were on Anna Maria Island in 1958 when they looked across Longboat Pass to see a deserted jungle island. Their curiosity led them to drive through Longboat Key, finding not much more than trees and other types of greenery.

But that same day, Shirley told her husband, “This piece of property is going to grow and grow and grow, and it's gonna be one of the most wanted pieces of property in the world.”

Shirley’s keen instincts led her and Buck to live on Longboat Key for about 40 years. All the children of their tight-knit family followed their parents and their grandparents to reside within a few minutes of each other on Longboat and in the surrounding area.

The Martin family, originally from Buffalo, New York, started their legacy in the area when Shirley’s parents, Christabell and Albro Kingsbury, moved to Bradenton after marrying in 1929. Shirley and Buck started visiting Shirley’s parents and loved to explore the area. They had known each other since kindergarten and became good friends around eighth grade.  

Photo by Petra Rivera

“One day in the eighth grade, I was walking back to school,” described Buck. “She was on the corner with her girlfriends selling tickets to a roller-skating party. She asked me if I'd like to buy a ticket. I was 14. She was 13. I said, ‘Shirley, I don't know how to skate. But if you want to teach me, I'll buy a ticket.’ We went skating. I was all over the place, but I learned how to skate.”

Shirley and Buck were married when Buck was in college on June 27, 1953. They had four children: Sherry, Ginger, David and Kevin. 

They loved to bring their children to the Bradenton-Sarasota area during holidays and vacations. The Martin family traveled a lot together and made their family bond stronger. 

“One of the best things that my mom and dad did for us kids, is he took off, my dad, who was a very hard worker,” said Sherry King, the eldest daughter of Shirley and Buck. “He took off a whole three weeks in the summertime, when we're all off school, and we rented one of those big campers. Mom and dad tracked all the best places. We went all over, out in California and the Grand Canyon, just did all that stuff. And that was an amazing time. They always took us on vacations. We do family trips on a regular basis.” 

Once Shirley and Buck decided to move full-time to Longboat, their children and grandchildren followed them. King and Ginger O’Connor live on Longboat Key and David Martin lives in Sarasota. About five years ago, Shirley and Buck moved to Plymouth Harbor retirement community. Most everyone else lives around the area except for a few family members who are still in Buffalo.

“When we would come and visit, we'd fall in love with the area," O’Connor said. "And I eventually said to my husband I feel like I'm leaving home when we would go home. I started feeling like this was home. So one day we decided to trade that white snow in for white sand.”

Photo by Petra Rivera

Circle the date

June 27 is a very special date for the Martins. Along with being Shirley and Buck’s wedding anniversary, it is also Shirley’s birthday. 

But the significance for the family doesn't end there. Shirley’s granddaughter Brittany Leone was also married on the same day in 2015. 

On June 27, Shirley and Buck celebrated 70 years of marriage and a new member of the family, their great-granddaughter Meadow June Leone, who was born the same day as their 70th anniversary.

The family threw a party celebrating all those wonderful events on Sunday, July 2, at Plymouth Harbor. More than 20 family members and friends attended, with a few people traveling from Buffalo to make the staple family event. 

Photo by Petra Rivera

One of the Martins’ iconic family traditions is the women’s matching medallions. On their 18th birthday, women in the family receive the same gold medallion to wear at every family event. The tradition has continued with Shirley's granddaughters.

As a present for 70 years of marriage, Tiffany Detzel, King’s daughter, and her husband Ryan Detzel converted all their family films to digital video and put them on a private family YouTube channel. 

Detzel said while she was announcing this, “We have the most and the absolute best family memories of any family I know. I feel like I've been hanging out with all of you all week long, because as I've been converting them, I've been watching the videos. And it just led me to tears and to laughter and everything that we have is just, it's too good. And I was like everybody needs to see these.”

Photo by Petra Rivera

This big celebration is not the only party the Martins have this year. Being in the same area allows them to stay the same tight-knit family they have always been. King said, “We get together on a regular basis. And not a month will go by without, but sometimes it might be two or three times in a month. You know, and we celebrate pretty much a lot of things.”

The Martin family empire continues to grow in their old-fashioned values and stick their roots here in Longboat Key. 

“Commitment, trust, love, loyalty. And extremely, extremely, extremely hardworking,” said O’Connor. “That's really the basis. We learned that, you know, my dad came from literally nothing. He had nothing at all. That's where he came from. And he built his whole empire by working, working, working, working and, and that all sunk into all of us.”