Martin was born in in 1967 in Germany while his Dad was serving there with the British Army. Soon after, the young family shifted back to Bolton, England, where his sister Valerie was born, and they were settled there for about 5 years.

 

When Martin was 6 years old, his parents decided to move to New Zealand to seek a healthier environment for Martin as he had bronchitis. They settled in Nelson, where Martin had an ideal New Zealand childhood with his friends Matthew Holmes and Gareth Haydock (who were also from the UK), and Simon Belton and Richard Cameron. He attended Nelson Central Primary School, Nelson Intermediate and Nelson Boy's College. 

 

He remembers discovering public libraries when he was about 10. He was amazed that he could borrow any book he wanted. He loved facts and learning (and still does) and borrowed mostly non-fiction books on a wide range of subjects, from astronomy to tanks. 

 

Martin excelled at sports, becoming a Nelson representative soccer player in all school age divisions, and later a representative tennis player. He also was gifted at art. His Intermediate School teacher told his parents that he was a once in a lifetime student.  

 

In his late teens Martin became what he called a "mad-keen trout fisherman." This interest was inspired by seeing several large mounted trout on the wall of Tony Busch’s Corner Sports Shop in Nelson, and watching videos of large trout being caught. Martin’s pursuit of trout, especially the big ones, took him and his friends all over the South Island on annual epic fishing trips. While contributing illustrations for New Zealand's Fish and Game magazine, Martin began to write about some of these fishing adventures and submitted them to the Editor. This led to Martin becoming a regular writer for the magazine, and several of his photos have featured on the cover of the magazine.

 

About this time Martin went through a life-changing experience, becoming a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. His dedication to his God and his church has been a major part of his life since then. He has devoted countless hours, voluntarily, to studying and sharing with others the teachings of the Bible, which gave meaning, value and purpose to his life.

 

After college he went to Wellington to study Design at Wellington Polytech. He completed a four year Diploma in Industrial Design, which included studies in Drawing, Photography, Modelmaking, Ergonomics, and Computer Aided Design. In his last year at Polytech Martin met Penny, and they married in 1992.

 

Martin has been self-employed throughout his working life, taking on various mural, book illustration, graphic design and painting work. He also combined his love of trout fishing with his art and began to paint life-sized portraits of trophy trout. People began to commission him to paint portraits of fish they'd caught and released, and this side of his business grew steadily over the years. He has been called one of the finest painters of trout in the world. Martin has some of his paintings hanging in New Zealand's top trout fishing lodges, to advertise his trophy trout portrait service. Most of his trout painting commissions have come from overseas anglers visiting New Zealand. (See www.martinsimpsonartist.com)

 

Nine years into their married life Martin and Penny decided to have children. This decision was prompted by Penny's Doctor ("you're not getting any younger") and Martin's friend who owned one of the local sports shops ("people who don't have children can become selfish").

What a wonderful decision that was, with Kate being born first, and Matthew two years later. Their children have been the joy, and one of the greatest challenges, of their lives. They decided early on that they would homeschool their children, and it has proven to be a great blessing for the whole family. With Martin being a natural teacher, and working from home most of the time, and the dedication of Penny to give it her best, Kate and Matthew have thrived and grown into lovely young adults. Numerous excursions and holidays and business trips have been highlights of their family life, and have produced some of their happiest childhood memories, shared with extended family and friends.

 

Soon after Kate was born, Martin obtained part-time work as a tutor at Wellington Polytech, which later became Weltec. He taught design, illustration, photography and design software to the design students, and was well loved and highly respected by both his fellow tutors and his students. His work there ended when the part-time tutors were no longer required.

 

In 2012 Martin was diagnosed with Prostate cancer. He decided to take a "watch and wait"

approach to the tumour, combined with a very healthy lifestyle, and the tumour did not change much over the next two years. However, about April 2015, things took a turn for the worse. He had recently returned home from an exciting but physically demanding annual fishing trip, and started to feel unwell and very sore. A bone scan revealed the cause - the cancer had spread to his bones. In June of that year he was admitted to Wellington Hospital for a course of radiation therapy, which relieved him of some terrible pain in his spine - a tumour was pressing on his spinal cord, which started to cause paralysis in his legs.

 

 

Back home after a week of radiation, Martin dedicated himself to regaining his ability to walk, and eventually he could walk unaided again. Life was nearly "normal" again, until late November, when he started to get some serious pain in his hips and pelvis. This continued until January, when he was again admitted to hospital for some more radiation. This time, after he returned home, his legs and hips were so weak and fragile that walking was a huge effort, and still quite painful. He would lie in bed with his legs bent up to avoid pain in his pelvis, and eventually his legs didn't want to stretch out any more. Standing soon became impossible, and so he has been bed bound for the last nine months. He has maintained his mental faculties completely however, and kept up his widespread interests, mostly via YouTube and the Internet.

 

During these long months in bed he has been contemplating the big questions of life, such as Where did we come from? Why are we here? and Where are we going? These questions are naturally pertinent to someone who is facing the end of their life, and Martin has dedicated himself to writing articles which seek to give solid answers to these big questions. It has not been an easy task, but he is determined to give it his best. As he has always done.

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