Roll Call Tribute

Marlin David Springer 

May 2, 1938 - July 24, 2024 

Dr. Marlin David Springer, PhD. died in the early morning hours of July 24, 2024. Marlin was born in Lamesa on May 2, 1938 the first born of Grover and Irene Springer. Marlin grew up in Lenorah and graduated from Stanton High School in 1955. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1958 and enrolled in the Ordinance Guided Missile School at the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama and worked with the Hawk Missile System design team. While there he met his “beautiful angel,” Sylvia Anne Walker and they married on August 1, 1960 before Marlin was deployed to Korea.

After his tour in Korea he was assigned to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas where he and Sylvia began their family with the birth Markham Scott on September 5, 1963 and their first daughter, Melanie Lyn on December 22, 1964. After being discharged from the Army, Marlin joined the Civil Service and he and Sylvia were stationed in Grafenwohr, Germany where their family grew by one more with the birth of Nancy Annette on May 29, 1967.

Upon leaving the Civil Service they moved to Lenorah and Marlin started his college career at Howard College in Big Spring. A year later they moved to College Station with their three children so Marlin could attend Texas A&M University. He completed his Bachelor of Science, Masters, and PhD in Wildlife Biology. Marlin worked as an Ecological Consultant, moving the family to Albuquerque, New Mexico before returning to work with the Hawk Missile System in 1985 with a defense contracting company in Huntsville, Alabama. While at the defense contractor Marlin and his team visualized a plasma energy waste disposal system that he later began his own company to develop and patent.

Marlin and Sylvia retired and moved to Canyon Lake, Texas in 2005. After Sylvia’s death in 2007, Marlin moved to Midland where he met his second wife through the Senior’s Lunch group at First United Methodist Church. Marlin married Paula Walker in 2013.

Marlin is survived by his second wife, Paula; his three children Markham Scott (Trina) Springer, Melanie Lyn (David) Johnson, and Nancy Annette (Jim Chase) Springer; 6 grandchildren Dustin Chase (Alicia) Johnson, Dwight Joe ‘Ike’ (Kyrsten) Brunner, Ryan Hunter (Sofie) Johnson, Cody Spencer (Natalie) Johnson, Thomas Scott Springer, and Kathryn Anne Springer; and 5 great grandchildren: Finley Scott Johnson, Wilder Hayes Johnson, Hallie Raelynn Johnson, Emerson Fox Johnson, and Ophelia Michelle Brunner; and his brother Stephen McKay (Barbara) Springer.

Marlin is preceded in death by his parents Grover Marlin and Edith Irene (McNerlin) Springer, his brothers Patrick Johnson Springer and Michael Jackson Springer, and his first wife Sylvia Anne (Walker) Springer.

A graveside service will be held at Trinity Memorial Park, Big Spring, Texas on Wednesday, July 31, 2024 at 10am.

In lieu of flowers please consider making a donation to New Mexico Christian Children’s Home, 1356 NM 236, Portales, New Mexico 88130 www.nmcch.org