Bennie Martinez's Memorial fund

My name is Art Cortez, I'm Bennie's son-in-law and I want to let you know a little bit about Bennie. I've had the privilege of spending 14 years with him and I learned a lot about what kind of man he was. There were so many parts; so many layers to Bennie.

Before I get into that, this is what happened. On July 30th, of this year, Bennie became seriously ill: very weak, dis-oriented, unable to move his arms and legs. Days later, he was transported from Holy Cross Hospital in Taos to Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. From that point on, doctors remained perplexed and confused about what was making him so ill, until lab results confirmed that he had contracted West Nile Virus. Moving forward, life for him would continue on the edge of life or death.

Bennie was the kindest soul you ever met. He helped everyone, he didn't hesitate to stop a moment to pass the time of day with a neighbor or even with a stranger. He loved meeting new people, he loved walking Mia(his pet), everyday. His passion was fishing at the Rio Grande and his choice of careers were carpentry and cooking. He absolutely loved life. Even with all the ailments he already had, he tried to make the most of what each day brought. Lastly, he was the most unselfish person I knew. He helped me so many times and never attached a price tag to it. He, I believe, would have given the shirt off his back to anyone; that's just who and what he was.

I created this GoFundMe account because over the last seven weeks, traveling back and forth to Albuquerque from Taos, has put an enormous financial strain on my family and I. Now that Bennie is no longer with us, we are left with an even greater burden. Funeral and memorial expenses, as many of you know, are and can be huge. We need help paying for funeral expense such as cremation and anything that goes with that as well as the memorial in honor of his life.