Vincent Martinez has been bringing 'life and color to the heart of Glen Cove' for 40 years

Vincent Martinez likes to joke that his tombstone will be placed upon “Vinnie’s Island,” the plot of land in Glen Cove that he has tended for four decades. On Nov. 9, a stone will be dedicated there in his honor — but not quite the one he expected.

For 40 years, Martinez, 89, of Glen Cove, has poured his love and sweat into “Vinnie’s Island,” a 100-foot-long median at the intersection of School Street, North Lane and Brewster Street that he has transformed into an extraordinary garden in the heart of the city. For the Korean War veteran, the passion project is all about “the color and the people,” meaning passersby who chat with him while they stop at the red light or cross the crosswalk.

And when he isn’t at his island, Glen Cove residents know they can find Martinez meeting with the local American Legion members under his command; at home helping to care for Sophie, his wife of 67 years; directing traffic at the scene of a fire or car accident as a member of the Glen Cove fire department; working out at the gym three days a week or seeking new ways to recognize veterans and patriotic neighbors.

“People always ask me, ‘Where do you get the energy to do this?’ ” Martinez said one recent sunny afternoon as he stood on the Kentucky bluegrass he planted in his front yard. “I say, ‘You only live once.’ ”

On Nov. 9, five days ahead of his 90th birthday, the public is invited to a monument dedication at Vinnie’s Island. It’s not the sort of stone Martinez jokes about, but rather one that will boast a plaque courtesy of the Tribute and Honor Foundation and anonymous donors to American Legion Post 76 thanking him for “bringing life and color to the heart of Glen Cove” with “selfless dedication.”

“Oh my God, that’s funny,” Martinez said with a grin. “Guys in the firehouse are saying ‘Vinnie, how many pallbearers you going to have?’ ”

A ‘PATRIOTIC LOOK’

When former City of Glen Cove Beautification Commission chairwoman Ruth Dobrescu spearheaded an adopt-a-spot program in 1984, Martinez said he immediately volunteered. He knew just the overgrown intersection he wanted to take over.

“I always noticed it was a mess,” Martinez recalled. “In there was litter, beer cans, bottles.”

For many years, Martinez said he spent more than $100 annually on flowers to turn the city-owned property into his own.

As cars and the years zoomed by, he planted summer poinsettias, delphinium, pink coneflowers, peonies and, at one point, rows of red and white begonias arranged like flag stripes.

“I tried to get that patriotic look,” he said, pointing to one of many old photographs he keeps in a hefty scrapbook dedicated to his island. “I was the first volunteer and I think I’m the last original.”

Martinez’s son, Vincent Martinez Jr., is the City of Glen Cove’s Department of Public Works supervisor. He said that while other adopt-a-spots founded in 1984 still exist in the city, his father is the last of the original volunteers still stewarding his plot.

Up until earlier this year, when he stopped driving, Martinez said he would visit Vinnie’s Island every day. He still visits a few times a week, getting five-minute rides from neighbors or his son to his second home, where the joy is not only in the weeding and watering.

“I met a lot of nice people,” he said. “Sometimes a good friend would come by and if I’m watering, I’ll throw the water on the car.”

Mayors and council members over the decades have sent Martinez letters and certificates of appreciation for his beautification efforts, all of which he kept. Current Glen Cove City Mayor Pamela Panzenbeck described Martinez as “a model citizen.”

“He made it absolutely beautiful,” she said of Vinnie’s Island. “People started to notice it . . . People would say, ‘Why doesn’t that guy Vinnie take over the entire city?’ ”

She added, “We should all aspire to be just like Vinnie and do volunteer work and serve our communities. It makes the world a much better place.”

JOINING THE NAVY

Just inside Martinez’s front door hangs a painting of the USS Zellars, one of two destroyers on which he said he served during the Korean War.

After his older brother was drafted into the Army in 1950, Martinez, who said he dropped out of school in eighth grade, wanted to enlist in the same branch. But with the Korean War underway, he said his mother forbade it. She instead allowed him to join the Navy in 1952, when he was 17, because she thought he would not see conflict.

“After the boot camp, I went on a ship and I thought I would be just traveling around the water,” Martinez recalled. “We ended up in the bay of Korea . . . I didn’t know where I was, but I found out in a hurry.”

Martinez said he still remembers two efforts to rescue pilots who crashed in the Pacific Ocean.

“One we got, one we lost,” Martinez said. “That was heartbreaking.”

ON THE HOMEFRONT

Shortly after Martinez was discharged in February 1957, he said he began dating Sophie Sholtz. The two married on Sept. 1 of that year and have two children, Terri Falmholz, 64, of Queens, and Martinez Jr., 62, of Glen Cove, plus three grandchildren.

“He’s a good guy, I’m gonna keep him,” Sophie Martinez, 87, said. “I’m very proud of him. I couldn’t be more proud of anybody.”

In the years that followed the war, Martinez found employment as a postal worker and joined the Glen Cove Fire Department’s hook and ladder company, serving as that company’s captain in 1965.

He served as the fire company’s secretary from 1995 to 2001 and as first officer of the fire police unit from 1991 to 2013, according to current department Chief Philip Grella Jr. He added that Martinez was awarded Fireman of the Year in 1979 and cofounded the department’s rescue squad, whose members can remove motorists from their vehicles in accidents.

“He’s a great man, always loves to give back to his community, his country,” Grella Jr. said.

Martinez, who joined the fire department 64½ years ago, is its oldest active member. A radio scanner next to his dining room table blares out emergency reports around the clock.

“He still comes to calls, still participates in drills,” Grella Jr. said. “He’s part of the fire police unit. They go out, they secure the perimeter of the scene” and direct traffic.

AMERICAN LEGION, VFW

For nearly 30 years, Martinez has also served as commander of Glen Cove American Legion Post 76.

“I’m so proud to be a member of that group,” Martinez said. “They always say veteran people. . . that once they become friends, they’re friends for life.”

Martinez, who is also a member and former chaplain of VFW Post 347 in Glen Cove, said the Legion Post consists of less than 10 aging Korean and Vietnam War veterans, and he struggles to recruit younger members. He believes he may be the last commander in the Glen Cove post’s history and wants to start making arrangements for existing members to transfer to nearby posts.

But his legion members have said they are proud of their post’s history and wish to keep it going until it’s no longer possible. And they are happy with Martinez’s leadership.

“He’s very good to all of our members . . . He gives us little gifts at Christmastime like poinsettias,” American Legion Post 76 Adjutant Anthony Anzalone Jr. said. “We love him dearly.”

HONORING CITY’S VETS

As Martinez entered his 80s, he ramped up his efforts to honor veterans and promote patriotism in his community. For nearly 10 years, he said he drove around his neighborhood taking note of homeowners flying the United States flag. After getting their names, he would send them citations of appreciation on behalf of the American Legion.

He said he has sent out more than 360 so far and, despite no longer being able to drive, remains on the lookout for new flags when he gets rides to fires or Vinnie’s Island.

About eight years ago, Martinez planted a stake at Vinnie’s Island on which he attached a sign bearing the name of a fallen Glen Cove veteran. Every two years, he said he changes the name.

“We have Veterans Day and we have Memorial Day, but there’s so many veterans that should be honored in some way that they can’t do them all,” he said. “So every two years, I honor one on my adopt-a-spot.”

Years from now, Martinez’s dream is that Vinnie’s Island will remain a bright spot for his city. He said he hopes his son will take stewardship.

“That’s why he’s finally allowing me to go down there and work with him,” said Martinez Jr. He said his typically reluctant-for-help father now eagerly wants his son to weed alongside him. “We go down to the island on Sunday mornings and we spend about an hour down there.”

Martinez Jr. said his father’s sense of volunteerism has inspired him throughout his life. He served in the Marines from 1983-1986 and, like his father, is a member of the Glen Cove Fire Department.

“He taught me a lot — his volunteering, his service,” Martinez Jr. said. “He’s been a really great role model.”

A Nov. 9 monument dedication at "Vinnie's Island" is being hosted by the Tribute and Honor Foundation and the Glen Cove American Legion Post 76 in collaboration with the City of Glen Cove. The information was incorrect in a previous version of this story.

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