Joe Matthews

1912 - 2010

Joe Matthews, 97, passed away Monday, July 19, 2010. Service: 10 a.m. Thursday at University Baptist Church, 2720 Wabash Ave., Fort Worth. Interment: Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. Visitation: 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Laurel Land Funeral Home of Fort Worth. Memorials: American Legion Post #569, Boys State Program, 400 W. Felix, Fort Worth, Texas 76115. Keeping busy in mind and body is key to a long and happy life, said Joe Matthews - from working every day at the Fort Worth company he founded in 1946, to working out on a treadmill at a fitness center near his home, to serving on both the Salvation Army Advisory Committee and the Endowment Fund Committee for the National American Legion. As national commander of the American Legion from 1972-73, Joe was the first national commander of a major veterans organization to go behind the Iron Curtain. At the request of the president, he visited Russia, Poland and Hungary. Joe was also a chair of the National Cemetery System Advisory Committee in 1973. He held the position for 20 years. Joe was born in Wick, Pa., on Dec. 30, 1912, and grew up in Grove City, Pa. After serving his country in the U.S. Navy from 1932-36, Joe returned to Grove City and married his childhood sweetheart, Alberta "Pinky" Thompson, now 96, and accepted a job with W.M. Bashlin Co. In 1937, Bashlin needed to expand its productions and determined that Texas and Joe were a good fit. He and Pinky opened an office in Fort Worth. In September 1946, Joe founded J.L. Matthews Lineman's Equipment Co. in a one-car garage on Sandage Street. The idea for making utility company lineman safety equipment came to him while he was serving as a Seabee in the South Pacific during World War II, he said. Today, the J.L. Matthews Co. on Felix Street distributes safety equipment for more than 150 manufacturers. Joe Matthews had no plans to retire. As for advice for younger generations, Joe said: "Footprints have been laid before you; you must determine if you will keep going or quit. And you have to know where you came from to know where you're going." Survivors: Wife, Pinky Matthews; children, Patty Hoover and Gary Matthews and wife, Pat; grandchildren, Danny, LeAnne, David, Margaret and Charlie; 12 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild.