by Daniel Anderson
There has been no shortage of transitions for Aaron Martinez over the course of the last nine months. He has navigated a significant job change, had a child leave the house, and lost his own father this past September.
“Rogers went to Texas Tech when I was making a lot of trips [to Lubbock], and I was able to connect generations through transitions in life,” Martinez explained, relating the overlap between his eldest son’s first year in college and being present as his father, Abel “Billy” Martinez concluded his battle with a prolonged degenerative illness.
Martinez felt his own space in that transition of generations around him as well. “When I left Tyler to see my dad [the final time], I knew it was a matter of days. Henry Bell told my wife that I was being honored with the TB Butler Award – I was able to honor and celebrate with my Dad while I was with him at the end,” Martinez said of the first week of October 2024 when he was awarded in absentia at the Tyler Chamber’s Annual Awards Banquet.
Martinez then began a new job as the Parks and Facilities Director for the City of Whitehouse after spending ten and a half years with Christus Health as the Grounds Manager. It was his appreciation for the outdoors, golf specifically, that helped bring him to Tyler and serve as a connective tie with his father. Out of college, Martinez recognized that a degree in agronomy and a career in golf grounds would probably require frequent moving, which is not something he necessarily wanted for his wife, Kathryn, and their hopes of starting a family. An offer with Willow Brook Country Club as a grounds superintendent – in a town where Kathryn’s parents lived – gave them an opportunity for the best of both worlds.
“We talked a lot about golf themes at [my father’s] funeral,” Martinez said. “There are a lot of life lessons he related to golf.” While they often played together, Martinez said that he and his father had a rule that what was said at the golf course stayed on the golf course. Some rounds could take a long time and that openness created a very safe space. Martinez wants to take the same approach with his children, even if not necessarily on a golf course. “No judgment,” he said, “but try to leave the course [and yourself] better than you found it and take that to everything you do – board service, jobs, family.”
Martinez has two sons, the aforementioned Rogers at Texas Tech and Landry, a sophomore at Tyler Legacy. He describes his paternal approach as “like managing people – be consistent and fair, but discipline one way affects each of them differently.” He also credits having a great partner in Kathryn for the “good cop/bad cop” routine, though Kathryn has wondered aloud why she so often gets the “bad cop” role. Martinez credits her with helping to maintain consistency and says parenting is “better as a team effort.”
That sense of collaboration started to include the boys as they became older, Martinez said. “I enjoyed having little kids, but when kids get older and they have the ability to discuss things, they should be included.”
Rogers and Landry might have developed different interests, but Martinez was able to keep a consistent approach in fostering their development. Both boys took active roles in determining their educational choices, whether it was Rogers choosing Texas Tech over A&M or TJC, or Landry deciding to apply to Caldwell Elementary in the second grade to pursue music. “We embraced their differences,” Martinez said. “It’s not about their conclusion; it’s about their decision and working through it with [our] support.”
That embrace of their differences also led Martinez on some self-discovery with regard to his father and what might be a “secret” of parenting. “Rogers was so involved with sports, including baseball cards and football cards, that a realization hit when he asked me a historical question about sports,” as Martinez tells the story, “maybe it wasn’t that my dad was the smartest guy in the world, maybe he’d just lived through [the things I was asking about].”
Rogers’ decision to attend school in Lubbock came with unintended benefits when it came to connecting with his paternal grandfather. Billy Martinez was recently recognized with a state resolution celebrating his life and service as a labor leader, especially in pursuit of civil rights with the League of United Latin American Citizens. That service set an example for Aaron, who has served on the Tyler Independent School District Board of Trustees since 2015 and whose term expires in 2027.
Between the figurative and literal open spaces of a golf course, the commitment to process over product, and the different approaches required for each of his sons, Martinez feels like his role has been cast for him. “I was never a team sports guy – I played golf – but I’m their coach. I support them, back them up, go to bat for them, whether it’s versus the umpire or the other team. You have to let them succeed or fail and then hug them afterwards.”