September 11, 2014 - Elmer Mathews will be celebrating his 80th birthday on Sunday, September 21, 2014 from 2 to 4pm at the fellowship hall of Jackson Baptist Church. Family invite you to come visit with your principal, teacher, preacher, bus driver, fireman, and probation officer. No gifts, just your presence.
Elmer graduated from Joaquin in 1952 and graduated in 1956 from East Texas Baptist. He has been married to his wife Dorothy for 57 years and together they have had four kids: Bill, Nancy, Rodney, and Spencer.
After graduating college, Elmer went to work as a 6th grade math teacher in Pasadena and later moved to Woodville. In 1961 he returned home to Joaquin to be Principal of Joaquin Elementary School. He was a Principal for 32 years at the Elementary Campus except for 1 year which he served as High School Principal before retiring in 1993. During those years in the school system he drove a school bus for 30 years and often volunteered to drive the bus on football trips. He made 17 senior trips which often included leaving out early in the morning and returning 4 days later with only one nights sleep.
After retiring from the school system he went to work for Shelby County helping to setup and establish the Juvenile Probation Department. He retired from the county after 8 years in 2001.
During his extra time, Elmer Mathews is a volunteer fireman and has been with the Joaquin Volunteer Fire Department for 42 years serving as fire chief 18 of those years. He would also work during the summer for John Henry Black who had a feed mill and hatchery in Joaquin. He would trade off from driving a school bus full of children to driving a bus full of chickens. He remembers going out and picking up feed with a shovel and bagging it before there were trucks which would vacuum the feed.
One of the things Elmer said he is most proud of doing in his life was helping to build a 1/2 million dollar Life Center for Good Hope Church in Blair where he was a pastor for 43 years. Before being the pastor of Good Hope Church, he was the pastor at Old Center Church for 7 years. After retiring from pastor, his wife and him joined Jackson Missionary Baptist Church which is were they serve the Lord today.
His wife, Dorothy, worked at Bealls for 25 years before retiring. The oldest son Bill Mathews was killed in a car crash in 1978. Their daughter Nancy lives in Grand Prairie and is a retired school teacher, works part time for the City of Arlington and has three kids. Rodney Mathews is married to Denise and has two children. They live in Center and Rodney is Fire Chief of the Center Volunteer Fire Department and works at Covington Lumber Company. The youngest son, Spencer and his wife Teresa, live in Koonce, Texas and have two kids. He has been the Technology Director at Koonce ISD for 22 years. They have 7 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren with a 9th one on the way. Elmer has two brothers, Johnny who lives in Huxley and Don who lives in Sour Lake, Texas.
