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Martin Porter Houseman, 86, a native of Globe, Arizona, passed on May 9, 2018, surrounded by his loving family and friends at his home in San Diego, California.
Also known as Bud or Marty, he attended Globe High School (1945), received his BA in Journalism from the University of Arizona (1949). He was immediately drafted into the US Army (1953) where he was a trainee and rifleman and ended his career as a counter-intelligence agent with Far East Command (FECOM). Marty then attended Middlebury College for his Masters in Spanish and completed an exchange program in Mexico and Spain. He frequently recounted his fond memories of his time in Madrid, living above a bakery — warm smells, tapas, sangrias and wonderful people.
In 1957 Martin began his career at United Press International where he experienced many adventures as a UPI foreign correspondent. For 27 years, Martin was a reporter, bureau chief and division manager in countries ranging from Cuba, Chile, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and the United States. His time with UPI in Latin America played out against the backdrop of the Cold War. He was in Cuba during the Bay of Pigs and was personally imprisoned by Fidel Castro because he was from the U.S. and a former Army Intelligence officer. Fortunately, Martin shared many cocktails through the years with the right power brokers in Havana and one of them, a Swiss Ambassador, was able to assist in obtaining papers to free him and get him on a flight back to the U.S. He was forced to move from Chile to Argentina prior to Pinochet’s military overthrow for quoting a Colombian newspaper article linking President Salvador Allende’s government to Communist guerrillas in Colombia. He was also the first American journalist into Jonestown, Guyana following that horrendous event.
After UPI, Martin became the evening editor for the San Diego Union Tribune until he retired.
While in Santiago, Chile he met his beautiful wife of 50 years, Rosita Cisterna. Martin is survived by his wife and their two children, John J. Houseman, Genevieve Houseman Brown and three grandchildren, all in the San Diego area.
In retirement, Marty and Rosita enjoyed traveling for pleasure and to visit family and friends throughout the United States, Chile and Argentina.
His ashes will be scattered at sea after a private ceremony for this beloved husband, father and journalist. He will be very much missed and forever loved.
