Martin Couser, Sr.

Hancock, Maryland

Martin Dale Couser, Sr., age 76, died on Sunday, May 25, 2014, at the home of his daughter, Lisa Amos and husband, Ken Amos, in Middletown, Md. He was surrounded by his family, after a courageous fifteen-year battle with cancer and heart disease.

Born May 20, 1938, near Shawneetown, Illinois, in an area known as The Bottoms, to Thomas Lewis Couser and Ruth Ellen Gott Couser.

He served in the U.S. Army from 1953 to 1956.

He later became a member of the W.B. Harrison Post #26 American Legion, in Hancock; and the Hudson Essex Terraplane Club. Martin was active in Antique Car Clubs, with his 1948 Chevrolet and 1927 Hudson Super Six Brougham.

In 1956, he began his career with McDonnell Douglas Aircraft, in St. Louis, Missouri, working as an experimental mechanic, along side the NASA Space Program.

On October 25, 1956, he married Rosaline Yvonne Smith. Martin and Rosaline lived in St. Louis, Missouri for the next fifty years. Martin retired in 1993, and moved back to Hancock in 2000. Rosaline died on April 11, 2011.

Martin is survived by a son, Martin Couser, Jr.; a daughter, Lisa Amos; three grandchildren, Ashley Rose Amos, Courtney Elizabeth Ann Amos, and Nicholas Martin James Amos; and three sisters, Minnie Lee Villani, of Carbondale, IL., Mary Ellen Mosby, of Eldorado, IL., and Margaret Ann Nagasawa, of Skokie, IL.

Besides his parents and wife, Martin was also preceded in death by twin infant sons; and two brothers, Lewis Everett Couser, who died in 1957, and Harold Wayne Couser, who died in 2006.

Martin was a loving man, full of laughter, and to say the least, he possessed a very generous soul. He will be loved and missed by many who will remember him and the happiness he spread.

A service will be held on Friday, May 30, 2014, at 11:00 a.m. at the Grove Funeral Home, 141 West Main Street, Hancock. The Rev. Jeff Hawbaker will officiate. Burial, with military honors by the Tri-State Honor Guard, will be in the Tonoloway Primitive Baptist Cemetery, near Hancock.

The family will receive friends at the Funeral Home on Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. For the convenience of family and friends, the Funeral Home will be open from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursday.

The family requests that memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, 1037 Haven Road, Hagerstown, MD 21742

Online condolences will be accepted at www.grovefh.com