This Just In — If you’re very lucky in this life, you get to meet or otherwise be associated with one or two people who are standout individuals – truly exceptional in ways that are manifest to all who meet them. D.G. Martin was such a person and news this week of his passing at 85 caused me to gasp aloud when it reached my media feed.
I first met D.G. many years ago when he and my husband were in the same Rotary Club together. My first impression of him was everlasting and was a quality that WCHL was blessed by for decades: that voice.
Much like Andy Griffith, D.G. Martin possessed a glorious North Carolina accent and more importantly a tremendous gift for storytelling. Even more vital, he was a sweet person with a definitive gentle demeanor and a level of grace that feels rare in public life.
When I read in the news coverage that D.G. served as a Green Beret, I’ll admit — I was surprised. Certainly, he would have served in an elite corps but it’s hard to imagine so gentle a person as a bada** green beret.
In reading his books about food (NC Barbecue, specifically) you could just about taste the slaw and hush puppies while wiping the sauce from your chin. All of this while guzzling some sweet tea and trying to save space for some banana pudding.
While I was hosting a radio show on WCHL, I would occasionally be on a group email from the station’s staff that was addressed to all the community hosts. There it was … in writing … me, on an email chain with D.G. Martin. This was a thing that we had in common. I still can’t quite believe it.
Almost 30 years ago, my son and I attended a reception at UNC for a guest speaker whose speech we enjoyed later that same night. As we found ourselves perfectly positioned as first to greet Dr. Maya Angelou, I spoke to her and explained that my son (then about 12) and I had attended the first Clinton inauguration and very much enjoyed her recitation of “On the Pulse of Morning,” which she had written for the occasion.
Angelou said “Thank you,” looked at Brian and told him that she hoped to see him at the University some time in the future.
Again … and for the same reason, that voice. It’s seared into my mind forever that Maya Angelou spoke to my child and, in an impressionable moment, said something so sweet and so meaningful.
I do put these two people (D.G.Martin and Maya Angelou) in the same esteem because they were both so iconic in their impact and contribution. It’s very much North Carolina’s loss that we did not collectively see the immense value and possibility of choosing D.G. Martin as our Senator.
I don’t know what (or if) we were thinking, but if that contributed to his being available for service on and around WCHL and Chapel Hill overall, then I’ll just observe here how very lucky we have been to have him so close and so dear.
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
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