Martin “Marty” M. Brosseau, a lifelong resident of Clark County, was born in Vancouver, Washington, to Adolf “Buck” and Elizabeth “Elsie” Brosseau and passed away at the age of 84 in Battle Ground, Washington.
He attended Battle Ground High School, graduating in 1958. During his teen years and early 20s, he worked various jobs, including milking cows for Partlows before school, hoeing bean fields at the Jones Farm in Ridgefield, and mowing the cemetery at the Vancouver Barracks. Marty worked the kill floor at Swift and Company in North Portland where he became skilled in the processing of cows, hogs and sheep. He spent the majority of his adult life in the mobile farm slaughter and custom cut and wrap business. He and his wife, Donna, opened Kustom Killing out of their residence in Battle Ground.
Marty started with a Jeep Willy’s pickup equipped with a boom. He then upgraded to a new red Ford pickup with a boom. The early years consisted of killing a single cow, dressing it out and driving it back to his shop, hanging it in the cooler and heading out to the next customer on his schedule. fiMarty then built the first self-contained mobile farm slaughter truck in Western Washington, complete with refrigeration, hot water and a “leave no trace” system with gut and hide tanks below the refrigerated box. His truck could transport up to 10 animals, their hides and guts at a time.
After his divorce from Donna, he opened Longhorn Pak in Vancouver on 72nd Avenue. It was also a custom cut and wrap shop with a smokehouse. He added a retail meat market in 1986. Marty was an early organizer and supporter of the 4-H and FFA Junior Livestock Sale that now is an annual event at the Clark County Fair. Marty sponsored several local youth organizations in the area and community events. One year he got roped into donating his refrigerated truck to keep the beer cold during Harvest Days in Battle Ground. Pretty sure that Donna had something to do with that since she was on the Harvest Days planning committee that year and everybody liked cold beer.
Marty had an interest in timber and owned several timber properties over the years. He harvested Christmas trees, poles, and second growth. He owned a Cat, a skidder, a few tricked out power saws and a loader. In his spare time, Marty attended LaRee’s Hereford cattle and Arabian horse shows. He traveled to Reno, Nevada, for the Western Hereford Nationals and Scottsdale, Arizona for the Arabian Horse Nationals. Supposedly, he didn’t like horses and only killed cows. Marty is preceded in death by siblings Alta, Mary, Fred and Barbara. He is survived by his sister, Nancy; his children, LaRee (Paul) and LaNae (Ken); four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
A celebration of life is planned for 1 to 4 p.m. May 22 in the Moulton Falls Room at the Battle Ground Community Center, 912 E. Main St., Battle Ground. Light refreshments will be served. Bring your favorite “Marty” pictures and stories.
