Amongst Fullerton’s 2025 graduating class there is no one quite like Ezra Martyn. Born in South Tahoe, he was adopted by a pastor and an artist who had adopted another newborn boy, Rowan Martyn, despite being biologically different they quickly became brothers as their father began teaching them how to survive at the age of 3 when he decided to take them out to hunt turkey for Thanksgiving.

“When my dad took the shot and did not miss, me and my brother were looking at it. We were shaking, we were scared and we were hurt,” Martyn said. “I felt bad in my heart, we just killed something and I told my dad how I felt and he said ‘well, do you want to eat?’”

At 7, his parents asked him and his brother if they would like to start living a nomadic lifestyle, and of course the brothers agreed. The family moved to Yakima, Washington for two years, Yosemite Park for nine months, Fullerton for a year, and Hawaii for five years. In Hawaii Martyn would for the first time be behind the rifle in a hunt with his dad. 

Martyn and his dad were in position when they saw a bachelor of around 50 bucks going up a hill but Martyn couldn’t take the shot until he could make an ethical one. 

“Finally this one buck stops in my sight and it’s beautiful. There was an arch of trees that led straight to the buck. To be honest, at thatmoment I felt that this meant he had chosen me to take the shot. He chose me and I chose him.,” Martyn said. “With his broadside showing I took the shot but missed grazing the back of its neck but it was stunned so I chambered another round and fired again this time through the heart. Shooting that animal. I felt terrible in the moment. But I felt this was what I had to learn. Pulling that trigger will never be easy, there’s no going back and there’s no saying, I’m sorry.”

Martyn and his father were always close, forming a tight bond through hunting, however they didn’t have much time left together. From the time Martyn and his brother were adopted, their father had been developing a tumor in his right kidney. Renal carcinoma has a high survival rate in the early stages, however by the time it had been identified in Martyn’s father, the tumor was the size of a softball. To treat it, the Martyns moved back to Fullerton in 2023 for care at St. Jude Medical Center. There it would be removed but unfortunately the tumor was malignant. It spread through his lungs, his spine, his brain, and was reaching for his heart. In just under a year Ezra’s father would die. 

“In his final days he was having death rattles and it was about four days before he passed when I knew. I know what death looks like and I knew he was gonna die,” Martyn said. “I was seeing him every day till his death and that was hard. He was losing his memory and became delusional. At one point I asked him if he knew who I was and he just stared back at me. He didn’t know.”

Despite being adopted, when Martyn looks back at his adoptive father he looks at him as his father, pointing out that he was the one that raised him and he was the one that made the decision to raise him as his son. 

Reflecting on his father, Martyn noted down the things he looked up to.

“He was a kind man. He would keep an extra car battery in his car so that if he saw anybody that broke down on the side of the road he could help. He’d always stop for hitchhikers too and he constantly told me and my brother ‘you gotta be good men in this world,’” Martyn said. “I can say I credit him alot for my wonder and love for Earth.”

When his father died a part of him died and for a while after his death, Ezra was not Ezra. 

“I was just moping and feeling complete dread of what’s gonna happen next, which is what happens when wonder is replaced by fear. I was scared of the future,” Martyn said. “I also was in a new environment and I really didn’t know how people here were going to react to my situation.” 

However, with the survival skills his father taught him, Martyn knew he would have to move forward even if he didnt know what was ahead of him. 

“I was kind of like well I cant run right now, walk right now but I can crawl. So I started to crawl even if it felt like a void beneath me. I started feeling better every baby step I would take. Eventually this snapped me out of it,” Martyn said. 

When Martyns’ wonder returned, his ambition returned too. He plans to become a welder, but would also love to become a firearm instructor, pointing out the accidents he could prevent thanks to his hunting experiences with his father. 

“So many people in this country have a problem with keeping control of their firearms. I was taught firearm safety at a very young age so going to a gun range and seeing people not properly using their firearm is frustrating and they’ve had it for like 10 years too and still don’t know. If Americans will continue to be able to exercise this liberty they should do it right,” Martyn said. “I definitely feel like it’s a privilege and we’re taking very very harsh advantage of it. I think they do it to look cool, they get the gun for fashion and I just think it’s disgusting.”

Like his father, Martyn feels a passion to give.

“It’s freeing to know that I can handle a firearm and survive alone if I needed to. It’s also a burden because I do feel an obligation to people who can’t,” Martyn said. “So yes I do feel like I need to protect others when they cannot protect themself in this case it would be teaching people how to protect themself.”

Although Martyn heavily credits his father for his love of the Earth he also feels a deep connection due to his ancestry. Martyn is part native American with ancestry from the Tlingit tribe in fact once he graduates he hopes to meet the Tribe in Alaska to learn more about his ancestry.

“I want to learn the ceremonies and connect with them. I do feel a deep connection to native Earth and you just don’t see it very often anymore and I wish you did because even in Hawaii they showed it they showed great tradition they deeply love that volcanic soil,” Martyn said. ¨I hope to find that love that my father had first taught me when I go to Alaska.¨