Charles William ("Bill") MathewsNov. 2,1920-Aug. 11, 2007
Hours before his peaceful passing, Bill Mathews of Fraser told his family gathered at his bedside at St. John Macomb Hospital on Friday, Aug. 10, that he wanted "to go home." He left his earthly bonds for a home in heaven at 1:15 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 11, after a valiant three-year battle with cancer. He was 86.
Born Nov. 2, 1920, in Annapolis, MD, to Dr. Lee Berkeley Mathews and Margaret Higgs Mathews, he was the second of three sons and a daughter who grew up in LaVale in western Maryland. He attended Allegheny High School in Cumberland, MD, graduating in 1938 and joining the U.S. Navy at age 18 as a Pharmacists Mate or medical Corpsman. He served in World War II in the Pacific aboard the USS Rixey and then on the USS Crescent City as Chief Pharmacists Mate where he was in charge of the ship's 20-man hospital group and headed its X-ray unit. He turned his knowledge of darkroom work into a side role as the ship's photographer of record and documented many of the servicemen and U.S. military outposts of the Pacific.
He met his wife, the former Marie Sieger of Fraser, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol during his Navy training days in Washington, DC; they corresponded throughout the war and, upon his military discharge and return to the States in 1945, he traveled to see her at Christmas 1945. Twenty-three days later, on Jan. 17, 1946, they were married at St. John Lutheran Church where they remained active members at the time of his death. Over the years, he was a member of the church's Mr. and Mrs. Club, the 55+ Club and was active with Marie in the St. John Ladies Society rummage sales; he regularly volunteered to work on church newsletter production and with the Lutheran Heritage Foundation.
He worked briefly during his early days in Michigan for the J.L. Hudson Company and then as an X-ray technician at Detroit's Receiving Hospital. When the young family moved to Macomb County from Detroit in the early 1950s, he joined the X-ray department of St. Joseph Hospital (now Henry Ford) in Mount Clemens until the opening of South Macomb (now St. John Macomb) Hospital, where he worked in X-ray and taught X-ray students until his retirement in 1986.
He was a consumate traveler, inveterate "tinkerer," gardener and patriot and spent much of his retirement years focused on exploring his family "roots." He was proud to have initiated an ongoing Mathews Family Reunion in 1989 and serve as its president and did extensive on-line research to locate previously lost branches of his family tree that had originated in Hawkinsville, GA.
As Fraser residents since 1952, the couple raised five children and enjoyed their 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Survivors include his wife, Marie; son Charles William Jr. (Mona) of Sterling Heights; daughters Nancy L. Mathews of Escanaba, Judy M. (Jim) Lapak of Shelby Township, Jill J. (Gene) Miller of Guy, TX, and Tracey K. (Brian) Fish of Bloomfield Township; brothers Lee Berkeley (Dorothy) Mathews of Cumberland and Robert A. Mathews of Roaring Spring, PA; sister Margaret ("Peggy") Booty of College Park, MD; grandchildren Robert (Michele) Mathews of Fraser, Kristopher W. Mathews of Clinton Township, Nicky (Matt) Jernigan of Guy, TX, Lauren E. Mathews of St. Clair Shores, Dawn M. Miller of Needville, TX, Stacy J. Miller of Guy, TX, Eugene ("B.J.") Miller of Guy, TX, and Cameron L. Fish and Kaeli M. Fish of Bloomfield Township; and great-grandchildren Emily M. Mathews and Joshua D. Mathews of Fraser. He leaves behind a vast, nationwide network of Mathews family descendants - cousins, nieces, nephews and their families -- as well as many friends. He was preceded in death by his parents and granddaughter Jennifer Kless of Escanaba.
(information about services, memorial -- per family at Faulmann-Walsh FH)