Roy Thomas Matthews

Roy Thomas Matthews, 92, of Washington DC, died peacefully at home on November 24, 2024.
Roy was born in Franklin, Virginia on February 14, 1932 to Maria Holland Matthews and Roy Thomas Matthews Sr. He graduated from Washington and Lee University, where he majored in history, then completed an MA at Duke University. He briefly went into business selling houses and cars in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he met and married LeeAnn Goodrich. After teaching for two years at the former Georgia State College for Women, he and LeeAnn headed to Chapel Hill, NC for Roy to earn a Ph.D at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Matthews taught briefly at the University of Houston before going to Michigan State University in 1965 where he taught for over 30 years.
Dr. Matthews had a rewarding career at MSU in the Departments of Humanities and History. He helped found the MSU summer overseas program for students in London, Edinburgh and Florence. He became one of the world's leading authorities on caricaturing in the Victorian Age, authoring a study of caricaturing in Victorian publications, In Vanity Fair, with Dr. Peter Mellini. WIth his colleague and lifelong friend Dr. DeWitt Platt, he wrote The Western Humanities, an introductory textbook.
Roy was happily married to LeeAnn for over 65 years. They had two children, Randolph (Helen) and Elizabeth (Franklin Adams) and four grandchildren: Randy and Helen's sons Clayton, Evan and Max, and Liz and Franklin's daughter Victoria. After his retirement from MSU, he and LeeAnn moved to Washington, DC. They enjoyed volunteering at various museums, including the National Gallery of Art, and were able to travel throughout the world. Roy took advantage of retirement to write a novel, "Gittin' Through", fictionalizing his experiences growing up.
Roy exuded kindness, integrity, and a genuine interest in everyone that he met; he was able to make everyone feel like their life had a story worth sharing.
A celebration of Roy's life will be held for friends and family. Memorial contributions may be sent to the Roy T. Matthews '54 Endowment for History, Department of History, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA 24450.