‘Nourished our souls.’ Gene Martin, the legendary Hilton Head south end grocer, dies at 88

Gene Martin, a beloved grocer for more than 50 years whose generosity earned him every honor Hilton Head Island has to give, died Friday night at age 88.

“Gene Martin created the Hilton Head Island value of corporate volunteerism by literally ‘giving the store away,’ ” reads the plaque from his 2018 induction into the Hilton Head Island Hall of Fame.

“After taking over the Red & White Supermarket (now Piggly Wiggly) in Coligny Plaza in 1969, his name quickly became synonymous with ‘giving’ and ‘yes.’ His unheralded donations of food to numerous community programs, schools, PTAs, holiday food baskets and distressed individuals set a tone for Hilton Head and set a high bar for those who followed.”

Martin was honored with the Alice Glenn Doughtie Good Citizenship Award and was grand marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

“Hilton Head is a unique scene,” he once said. “Most of us have the common goal to keep it the best place in the world to live.”

He served on the inaugural board of the Hilton Head Hospital as well as the board of the Chamber of Commerce and area board of the Bank of Beaufort. He was president of the Jaycees.

The Gators youth football program never had to buy supplies for its concession stand. That was donated by Martin.

For more than a decade, Martin donated all the food and wine for the Hilton Head Humane Association’s annual Valentine’s Day fundraiser, the Stay-at-Home Banquet. He was there from the beginning, and it grew to more than 1,200 meals.

Also, customers could run tabs at his store, something that helped many workers in the island’s seasonal economy.

But much of his giving was deliberately kept below the radar.

“The Deep Well family is very sad to hear this news,” Sandy Gillis, executive director of the island’s nonprofit social services agency, said Saturday. “He put a lot of food in (founder) Charlotte Heinrichs’ car and never put it on her tab.

“Gene and his son David helped Deep Well’s food pantry get food in the middle of hurricanes and worldwide pandemics. They nourished our bodies with food from their store. And they nourished our souls with their love of community.”

Martin once explained it by saying, “I’ve lived here and raised four children here,” he said, “and it’s the least I can do to help when help is needed. Yes, it gets hard, but I keep giving. Besides, I never planned or wanted to be rich.”

Martin died in the Broad Creek Center at TidePointe after a year-long battle with cancer, said his son, David Martin, who runs the Piggly Wiggly he bought from his father following his so-called retirement in 2007.

“He was able to stay in his home until Tuesday,” David Martin said on Saturday. “He last worked at the store on St. Patrick’s Day in a wheelchair. He was still sharp mentally.”

David Martin said, “We are going to have a small family celebration in a couple weeks.”

LOWCOUNTRY ROOTS

Eugene Pressie Martin Jr. was born in 1933 in a small railroad community between Allendale and Barnwell in the South Carolina Lowcountry.

His store reflected his upbringing and a work ethic that had him sorting vegetables daily at 5 a.m. It became a community center, especially as it stayed open longer than others during hurricane threats.

Martin was 10 when his mother died as she was delivering her fourth child.

He was raised in the home of an aunt and uncle in Allendale and always worked to help the family with expenses.

He was a star athlete for the Allendale High School Golden Eagles and earned a football scholarship to Newberry College.

After an injury, he left college, married, had four children and worked as a salesman for a grocery wholesaler.

He called on Louis McKibben’s Red and White Grocery on a then-lonely Hilton Head.

When McKibben wanted to sell the business, Martin bought it on a handshake, with no money down. It anchored Norris and Lois Richardson’s growing plaza by the beach, and a little window in the back served as the first post office on the island’s south end.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

The store remains a throwback to the elusive small-town feel of the Lowcountry.

It’s where countless island youth got their first jobs and adult employees tend to stay for decades.

When Martin arrived, the Hargray phone book listed four other island grocers: (Abe) Grant’s Grocery and Driftwood Lounge, (Henry) Driessen’s Grocery & Service Station, The Island Market at Fairfield Village, and (Charlie) Simmons Grocery Store. None of those businesses are around today.

On paper, the Martin store should be gone, too. It’s not on a main street.

It’s not like today’s supermarkets that are big enough to be divided by ZIP codes. And it’s been hammered by competition, with up to six major chains fighting for a piece of the island pie over the years.

Martin, whose days started with sorting vegetables at 5 a.m., said success is all about customer service and cleanliness.

He was well known for finding anything a customer wanted, and on Hilton Head they’ve wanted everything from Minnesota wild rice to fire-roasted garlic mustard. David Martin said it was the first grocery store in South Carolina to sell Perrier mineral waters.

Gene Martin credited early island developers Charles Fraser and Fred Hack and longtime Mayor Tom Peeples with guiding the island toward being a place that has enough tourism to keep retailers alive “without stripping the place bare.”

David Lauderdale may be reached at LauderdaleColumn@gmail.com.

This story was originally published March 26, 2022 at 11:55 AM.