Martin C. Predoehl

Martin Carl Predoehl was born November 30, 1932, in St. Louis, MO, to Reverend Theodore Predoehl and Dorothy Sophia (Blesse) Predoehl. The second of five children, Martin graduated from Redfield High School in Redfield, South Dakota, and continued his education at the University of South Dakota. He then attended the Navy Officer Candidate Training School and later sailed on the USS Kenneth Whiting, a seaplane tender supporting the 7th Fleet in the Western Pacific. He remembered making port in Guam, Okinawa, and other ports. After his discharge, Martin served for many years as a Naval Reserve officer.

Upon his return home, Martin moved to Wisconsin, where he worked on missile guidance systems at AC Sparkplug. After a brief stint as a doctoral student, Martin joined what was then the U.S. Weather Bureau (now the National Weather Service) and was stationed at Lockheed Air Terminal (now Hollywood Burbank Airport) in California. 

Martin joined the U.S. Antarctic Research Program (now the U.S. Antarctic Program) and moved to Washington, D.C. He made two trips to Antarctica, where there is a mountain named after him - Mount Predoehl (82.56 S 063.11 E). His study of Antarctic pack ice boundaries using 1964 infrared picture taken by the Nimbus I satellite was published in Science in 1966. While living in the Washington, DC area, Martin met Louise Pearl Phillips, then an undergraduate at the University of Maryland. 

Martin and Louise were married in June, 1963 and moved to Silver Spring, MD, before a new project took them to Pendleton, OR, where he conducted research on the meteorological effects of sonic booms, using a dense grid of recently invented unattended transient data recorders (aka weather balloons).

After the birth of their son Andrew Martin in December of 1969, the family returned to Silver Spring, moving to Olney, MD in 1973, where they welcomed son Alexander Paul in 1976. During this time Martin worked on the Barbados Oceanographic and Meteorological Experment (BOMEX), and on studies of ice cover on the Chesapeake Bay.

An active parishioner and Elder at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Olney, Martin taught Sunday School, served as facilities manager, sang in the Chancel Choir and rang in the Bell Choir.

In the early eighties, Martin began his decades-long involvement with the Boy Scouts. Beginning as Alex’s co-Den Leader, Martin progressed to increasing levels of responsibility with troop 264. He assisted Andrew and Alex as they became Eagle Scouts. Afterwards, Martin started the Wood Badge course, becoming involved with Scout leader training, and eventually became a Commissioner.

Beginning in 2005, Martin joined the American Legion, serving in many roles in Legion Post 68, including Commander and Adjutant.

Relatives and friends may visit on Friday, May 23, 2025 from 6pm to 8pm at the Roy W. Barber Funeral Home, 21525 Laytonsville Rd., Laytonsville, MD 20882. A funeral service will be on Saturday, May 24, 2025 at 12:30pm at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, 4200 Olney-Laytonsville Rd., Olney, MD 20832, where there will be a visitation from 11:30am to 12:30pm. Interment will follow at Norbeck Memorial Park in Olney, MD.  

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