Floyd H. Matthews

Floyd Huston Matthews, Lieutenant Commander, USM (Ret.), age 105, of Lawrence County, Tenn., died Feb. 24, 2008, after a brief illness. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, at Elkins Funeral Home, Florence. A military honors funeral will be held at Barrancas National Cemetery, Pensacola Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla.

LCDR (Ret.) Matthews was the nation's oldest surviving submarine sailor, Alabama's oldest veteran and one of the few remaining WWI-era veterans.

He was born in West Point, Tenn., and was a member of Florence First United Methodist Church. He was preceded in death by a son, Floyd William Matthews; his wife, Vena Yocom Matthews; and parents, John Huston Matthews and Nannie Farris Matthews. He is survived by sons, Bill Matthews, of Killen, and John Matthews, of Montgomery, Ala.; daughters, Sondra Bishop, Lebanon, Tenn., and Priscilla Smith, Pensacola; seven grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

In 1919, at age 16, he walked from West Point, Tenn., to Florence and joined the Navy. He rose from a seaman recruit to lieutenant commander during his 30-year naval career.

In lieu of flowers, family requests donations be made to U.S. Submarine Veterans Charitable Foundation, P.O. Box 3870, Silverdale, WA 98383.

Elkins Funeral Home, Florence, is assisting the family.
This obituary was originally published in the Florence Times Daily.