By the time he left Guest House, he had regained his sobriety and found what would become his life's work.
He converted his notes based on Bill Wilson's Alcoholics Anonymous famous 12-step program into a blackboard talk, which was done on an actual blackboard with chalk. During the 1960s, he began presenting it at AA meetings, rehab centers and private businesses.
In 1972, his "Chalk Talk" lecture was filmed by the Navy and later was picked up by the other armed forces where it was used as mandatory addiction training for service personnel.
Father Martin and his blackboard lecture were in demand all over the world, which gave rise to his crack: "Have chalk. Will travel."
In 1964, he became acquainted with Lora Mae Abraham, a mother and a housewife, who was the daughter of a Baptist minister.
"I've been sober 45 years. Those years when I was suffering from alcoholism were years of disgrace and shame, and especially so because I was a woman," said Mrs. Abraham.
One night in 1964, Mrs. Abraham joined other members from her AA meeting at the Johns Hopkins University to hear a lecture featuring Father Martin.
"When he walked out on stage and said, 'Hello, I'm Joe Martin, and I'm an alcoholic,' and that alcoholics are not bad people, they have an illness, I surrendered right there that night," she said. The two became close friends, and it was Mrs. Abraham who suggested in 1978 that Father Martin establish a center where alcoholics could come for treatment.
It took seven years of fundraising before they were able to acquire Oakington, the former estate of Maryland Sen. Millard Tydings overlooking the Chesapeake Bay.
The 22-bed facility opened in 1983 and was named Ashley for Mrs. Abraham's father, the Rev. Arthur Ashley.
The Rev. Leonard A. Dahl, a Presbyterian clergyman, stepped down two years ago as president and CEO at Ashley.
"He also took me to my first AA meeting, and I recently celebrated 36 years of sobriety," Mr. Dahl said of Father Martin. "He believed that alcoholism was his cross and hymn to carry, and he was never bitter about the disease."
Father Martin, who liked to say, "Give me a blackboard, a piece of chalk and a bunch of drunks and I'm at home," always greeted new arrivals with a hopeful welcome: "The nightmare is over."
Father Martin also made sure that no one was turned away because of their inability to pay for treatment that can cost $20,800 for the 28-day program.
