Frederick Raoul Martin

Frederick Raoul Martin passed away September 9, 2023 at the age of 87. He was born July 29, 1936 in Longview Washington. His family then moved to Des Moines, Washington. He attended Federal Way Elementary/Middle School/High School (it kept growing along with him) then moved on to college. At the University of Washington, he earned both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s in Business Administration and was a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. After graduation he began working at Boeing as a project manager.

Raoul's first sign of entrepreneurship was as creator/publisher of a local Woodmont Beach neighborhood newsletter when he was about 11 years old. He bought a rubber type setting kit to set letters and print the newsletter filled with local news. He sold subscriptions to neighbors and his brother helped him set the type and produce the copies. Then he started selling gift cards, largely Christmas cards, to the neighborhood, had a paper route, and got a part time job at Manca's hamburger stand nearby on Hwy 99, all before he hit high school. His creativity and enterprising spirit continued throughout his life.

The outdoor life was appealing to him, and he spent many hours on his boat as a youth, monitored at fire lookouts on Mt. Rainier, and worked as crew on WA State Ferry "Kalakala" in Puget Sound. Skiing was also a passion of his, including time on the UW varsity team. He played and refereed recreational soccer for over 25 years and was a great enthusiast of the sport.

Raoul was a lifelong fan of both big trains and model trains, as well as street cars. He was one of the principal founders of the railroad historical museum in 1957, that grew to become what is now Snoqualmie’s THE NORTHWEST RAILWAY MUSEUM. His goal was to store, refurbish, display and operate the historic railroad cars and locomotives that he was obtaining through purchase or surplus gifts. In 1958 Raoul founded the Northwest Short Line model railroad company. Always the entrepreneur Raoul browsed the railroad yards throughout Washington to acquire blueprints or design records of engines and cars for the design of HO gauge brass models. He then arranged production of these models for his newly created business and bought machinery for production of various parts for models found to be marketable. His machine shop was located in West Seattle where he designed, manufactured, and imported precision craftsman model wheelsets, gears, motors, tools, and hardware for HO Scale models for nearly 50 years.

In 1961 Raoul married Sheryl Potter and they soon moved to West Seattle where they both continued to work at Boeing while raising their son and daughter. He was always willing to jump in and help with his children's and grandchildren’s activities including cheering for, coaching, and officiating baseball, soccer, and swimming events and teaching his kids to ski.

After retirement Raoul enjoyed traveling the world with his wife Sheryl, enjoying river cruises, scouting for and riding trains, searching for streetcars, and most of all enjoying life.