Martin Oakes Retirement

After many years of service, Martin Oakes must relinquish his position as Editor of The New CartoPhilatelist (TNCP) Journal. In a group such as ours, the journal is the lifeline, the major method to communicate with members, to share research, to keep up- to-date. Martin did an outstanding job for all these years; he will be missed and will be hard to replace. Martin took over as Editor with the April 2008 edition. Over the ensuing 12 years, he edited an amazing 50 issues. He dedicated countless hours to assembling these issues, as well as contributing articles when there was insufficient material available.  Martin was born in London, England and like many of us, Martin started collecting stamps at a young age, then put collecting aside as he pursued his education and began his work career.  A friend at one of his jobs re-introduced him to stamp collecting and for over 50 years he specialized in Great Britain, a collection that grew to 40 volumes. Martin and his wife relocated to the United States in the late 1960s when he accepted a position with a major electronics company in Indianapolis, Indiana. During this working years he developed an interest in map stamps and joined the CartoPhilatelic Society.  When the group was revived in 2003, he was invited to help design the logos we now use and wrote an article for TNCP 1, “Oh, What a Relief It Is.” The Society and its members were privileged to have Martin as our Editor for so long. Please join us in congratulating him for contributions to cartophilately and our Society.  Thank you Martin and best wishes!