C.W. Matthews

News Obituary Article

MARIETTA: C.W. Matthews, highway contractor

By DERRICK HENRY

C.W. Matthews began grading farm ponds in Cobb County in 1946 when the county was rural and full of rough roads and dangerous potholes.

As the county grew exponentially, Mr. Matthews and his construction company helped provide the quality roads needed for the expanded infrastructure.

Today C.W. Matthews Contracting Co. is the largest highway contractor in Georgia, said executive vice president James C. Scott Jr. of Marietta.

"C.W. was a true pioneer of what is modern-day Cobb County," said lawyer and former congressman George "Buddy" Darden of Marietta.

"He was a big part of transforming Cobb County," said Harold Shepherd of Atlanta, retired chairman of Shepherd Construction Co.

"He was one of the leaders in the industry, no question about it."

Charles William Matthews, 84, died Sunday of a heart attack at his Marietta residence. The funeral is 11 a.m. today at Roswell Street Baptist Church. Mayes Ward-Dobbins Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

The Alabama native left school after the eighth grade to take a job with a construction company that sent him to Marietta to grade the Bell Bomber plant site, now Lockheed Martin's Marietta facility.

During World War II Mr. Matthews spent three years in the Pacific as a staff sergeant for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers supervising the building of air fields.

When he was discharged in 1946, he moved his family to Marietta and founded Marietta Construction Co. with two partners.

He bought Army surplus equipment and buckled down.

"He basically had one used bulldozer and one used dump truck," said his son Robert Matthews of Marietta.

In 1954 Mr. Matthews bought out his partners and renamed his company C.W. Matthews Contracting Co. The company's watershed moment, Mr. Scott said, "was entering the hot mixed asphalt business in 1957. Today we are driven by asphalt. We do construction work in order to do the paving."

Mr. Scott, who grew up in Cobb County during the 1950s and 1960s, said that the roads then "were in pretty bad shape. You would have potholes you wouldn't believe, nearly as long as your car. And those were on supposedly paved roads."

Mr. Matthews focused on improving the road infrastructure in the 1960s, Mr. Scott said.

In 1969 he turned the company's presidency over to his son Robert Matthews and remained as chairman of the board until 1982. Today his son is board chairman.

"C.W. was a man who inspired you to follow him," Mr. Scott said.

"He had a charisma, an energy that made people want to do extraordinary things for him. He really brought out the best in people."

Mr. Matthews helped many colleagues get started in the construction business. He contributed to political candidates and causes, and less well known were his behind-the-scenes kindnesses.

"C.W. was always known for his generosity," Mr. Darden said.

"There's no way to tell how many people he helped anonymously. If he found out about someone in need, he helped get that person back on his feet."

Survivors include his wife, Myrtle Fain Matthews; another son, Samuel Matthews of Punta Gorda, Fla.; three grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

© 2007 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution