Aurora retiree Victor Martinez handcrafts guitars from cigar boxes.
While he has given away 30 to 40 guitars, he is starting to offer them for sale.
He performed vocals in English and Spanish and instrumentals on guitar, harmonica and Native American-style flutes, at the February 7 luncheon meeting of Aurora Area Retired Teachers Association at Lincoln Inn Banquets in Batavia.
He concluded by leading AARTA members in a group performance in which a dozen audience members volunteered to play maracas, a mini washboard, tambourine, bongo drums and other instruments he loaned.
Martinez came to the AARTA meeting through his wife, Itsuko, an AARTA member.
After about 48 years as a mechanical technician at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Victor Martinez retired a few years ago to focus on music.
—Al Benson
