Who Am I?

I am Gary Scott Martin. I am the oldest of three children and the only son of Conrad Lee Martin, Jr. and Loretta Ollie Thomson. (May their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed, rest in peace. Amen.) I am a first-generation Californian. I was born in Long Beach, lived briefly in Santa Maria/Orcutt, grew up in Nipomo, went to college in Los Angeles and Palo Alto, and have resided in Tehachapi for my entire adult life (excepting the academic year of August 1985 through August 1986, spent in Palo Alto).

I have been married to Kathy Ann Nusbaum since 1978. We have a daughter and a son. We have five grandchildren. We have been parishioners at Saint Malachy's Roman Catholic Church here in Tehachapi since we were newlyweds.

I am a 1974 graduate of St. Joseph's High School in Santa Maria, California; a 1978 graduate of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California; a 1983 graduate of California State University Fresno in Fresno, California; and a 2022 graduate of Cerro Coso Community College in Ridgecrest, California (2022). I have earned an Associate of Arts for Transfer (AA-T) in both Anthropology and Psychology, in addition to an Associate of Arts (AA) in Liberal Arts: Social & Behavioral Sciences. I have earned a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Aerospace Engineering and a Master of Science (MS) in Engineering (Mechanical Option). I spent a year (1985-86) as a graduate student in the Guidance and Controls Laboratory at Stanford University. I was a candidate for the Degree of Engineer in Aeronautics and Astronautics. I completed the required coursework, but not the thesis requirement.

I am retired from U.S. Federal Civil Service, and from engineering, after a combined 42 years and 11 months as a civilian employee of the U.S. Air Force and of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). All of that service was performed at Edwards AFB.