Victor ‘ DJ V- Funk’ Martinez, 36, Porterville
Victor “DJ V- Funk” Martinez knew instinctively how to read a crowd and what to play to get them dancing. By day, the 36- year- old worked as an environmental supervisor at the Porterville Developmental Center, overseeing custodial staff at a state residential facility for developmentally disabled adults. But his true passion was music, said his wife, Emelina Martinez.
Martinez performed as a deejay under the name “DJ V- Funk” for more than a decade in and around his hometown of Porterville, providing the soundtrack at countless quinceañeras, weddings and birthday parties. It was a business, but Martinez insisted on playing certain events for free, such as school fundraisers or a party to raise money for a community member’s kidney transplant.
His turntable skills changed the course of his life more than 15 years ago, when his not- yet wife was looking for a deejay to play her birthday party. Martinez got the gig. And within a few months, he also got the girl. His life further bloomed as a devoted father to their son, Adriel, now 14, and 5- year- old daughter, Ambrielle.
Martinez never wanted to miss a moment of his children’s lives — not a ballet class or a soccer practice or a Little League game. If something conflicted with work, he would try to go on his lunch break. When Adriel marched in his first Veterans Day parade with the school band, his father walked alongside so he could take pictures the whole way.
It wasn’t just his own children whom Martinez doted on. “He wanted to be everyone’s father,” his wife said. He was a ringleader of camping trips — including an annual retreat for at- risk youths — and played Santa Claus at Boys and Girls Club holiday parties.
Martinez and his wife experienced an instant connection when they f irst met. Both of their lives had been profoundly shaped by violent tragedy. But in the long shadow of senseless acts, each found a soul mate who could grasp what the other had been through.
“He understood my pain, and I understood his,” said Emelina Martinez, who lost a brother in a shooting before meeting her husband.
Martinez’s mother and sister were murdered in the family home when he was 13. As a teenager, he was put on the witness stand multiple times to testify against the killer, and later given an award by the Tulare County district attorney’s office for the “exceptional courage” he showed in bringing the assailant to justice.
Others might have wilted under the weight of such grief. But Martinez knew what he wanted: to build something new with Emelina, and create a shelter of love and stability for their children. “He really, really took care of us,” she said. Her husband was cautious at times, particularly as the pandemic bore down around them. He made sure his family had hand sanitizer, gloves and masks, and took care to wipe down the inside of their cars before they got in.
But the virus still found him in mid- July. His wife believes Martinez contracted COVID- 19 at work, because his job required him to enter units with COVID- 19 patients to ensure they were being cleaned properly. Emelina works as a psychiatric nurse at the same facility.
Martinez died at Bakersfield Adventist Health Hospital on Aug. 27 after battling COVID- 19 for a month.
He and his wife had eloped in 2005, eager to start their lives together. But as they approached their 15th wedding anniversary, the couple wanted to do it again “the right way,” with a church wedding and Emelina’s father walking her down the aisle.
By the summer, they had decided to postpone their fall wedding until after COVID- 19, but the bulk of the planning was done. They had looked at rings and carefully chosen the tannish- brown suit that Adriel would wear as a groomsman, along with the princess- like dress that Ambrielle would don for f lower girl duties. Emelina had found the perfect white dress at a friend’s bridal boutique.
Before Martinez’s funeral, she went ahead and put the dress on. “I asked my dad, ‘ Can you still give me away, Daddy?’ ” she recalled. Her father said yes.
Wearing a lace- covered, strapless wedding gown, Emelina walked down the aisle of the Porterville Funeral and Cremation Center on her father’s arm, toward the box where her husband lay.
“More Than Words” by Extreme and “Amber” by 311 — the songs Martinez had picked out for a very different version of this same moment — played as his wife and father- in- law made their way toward him.
It was a world away from the day Victor and Emelina had wanted or planned. But she was still going to wear the dress for her groom, and pledge her love one last time.
In addition to his wife, son and daughter, Martinez is survived by a brother, Oscar Fennel of Idaho, and sisters Antoniette Barboza of Bakersfield and Julie Martinez of Porterville.