Bob Martinez To Be Honored with Lee-Ann Shoeman Award

The Historic Hernando Preservation Society is set to honor local historian Bob Martinez on March 7 for his continued contributions to the understanding of the historical significance of Hernando County through his magazine “Old Brooksville In Photos and Stories.” He will become the 10th recipient of the Lee-Ann Shoeman Award in the city hall council chambers at 7:00 that evening. The accolade is not given for just a single work regarding the county’s past but rather for a long-standing commitment to furthering historical education for Hernando’s posterity.

“I did a couple of Brooksville guides, started incorporating old photographs in it and found out that the people love local history,” Martinez said. “So, I came up with an idea and decided to start this in 1997 and realized how popular – it started snowballing. People started calling me and I started featuring stories of people and the community, and they would strike a nerve […] not only does it talk about history, but it makes everybody in this town feel special.”

The award was named in honor of Ms. Shoeman by the historical association following her passing in May of 2014. After serving as a volunteer in 2010-2011 and creating the first historic marker that the preservation society had done, the Central High School teacher was set to become the curator of the local museum. Before she and Society President Jan Knowles could write the grant to give her the title, though, the educator was tragically killed by her longtime boyfriend in 2014, the Tampa Bay Times reported. In remembrance of her devotion to chronicling the past, “We thought that we should have something that should be an award to her,” said Knowles.

Bob Martinez’s actions speak to the same devotion to local history as he has been publishing the Brooksville-focused magazine, which incorporates local advertising, since 1997. The 27-year-old publication is set to release its 310th issue this Friday. The publicist, who has “always loved history,” was honored to be recognized for his dedication. So, what was it that led to his passion for the past? Two dollars, his uncle, and a pack of Pall Malls.

“Every Sunday afternoon, my uncle […] would come to the house in a suit and would sit there smoking Pall Malls and tell me all about the history of Americana, of the past including growing up in Tampa, growing up in the South, and all this,” said Martinez. “It whetted my appetite for history, including not just American history but pop culture and everything else, because he talked about sports, he talked about music, he talked about so many things, and he would give me two dollars every Sunday. I would usually run out and buy a model car or records.”

Martinez moved with his parents to Hernando County in 1957 when he was just 12 years old. While the publicist had moved from New York to Florida as a child, his father and uncle Sid were natives of the Tampa area. The local historian attended Hernando High School until 1963 before enrolling at a junior college. After transferring, he graduated from the University of Florida, where he studied advertising and English. Martinez then worked at the Tampa Tribune for 20 years, from 1974 to 1994 and has been advertising or writing since the 1960s. Martinez, 78, will be celebrating his 79th birthday in June.

Martinez would later get the opportunity to return the favor to his uncle, whose Spanish name was Ysidro, when he came across the book Yesterday’s Tampa by Florida historian Hampton Dunn. It was the least he could do, considering his uncle’s stories fueled his fire that would eventually become part of his livelihood. Ysidro “was so elated” with the manuscript that he “carried that book around for the last two years of his life” before suffering a fatal heart attack in 1975. “I felt so good because I gave him something back for everything he gave me,” said Martinez. “I just felt like a good karma inside.”

Knowles met Martinez in 1976 through his wife, who was serving as treasurer, during her time as a volunteer with the museum. The society’s president lamented that while many people know the local historian, few have actually met him. Knowles looks forward to the opportunity for people to meet Martinez and ask him about how he got his start in the field on Thursday, March 7.