John Matthews - BHS Class 1955

(January 2007) We are saddened by the passing of Marshia Matthews, wife of classmate John Matthews. A brief biography of her life was reported in the 12/11/2006 North County Times.

Marshia Anne Matthews, 59... passed away Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006, at home in Riverside, Calif., of brain cancer.

Marshia was born in Oceanside, Calif., on April 18, 1947, to Virgil B. and Beulah M. Hood. She grew up in Carlsbad, graduated from Carlsbad High School in 1965 and attended San Diego State University. Marshia is survived by her husband of nearly 37 years, John Matthews, sons Britt (Karin) of Oceanside and Blake of San Diego; daughters Amanda Losch (Frank) of Apple Valley and Jessica of Los Angeles; grandchildren Annalee, Annika and Mattheus Losch; sister Charla Boodry (Fred) of Carlsbad and eight nieces and nephews.

Marshia retired in 2001 from the Riverside Police Department, where she served as a community service representative and a dispatcher. She enjoyed music (especially Rock n Roll), dancing, reading, antiquing, and constant redecorating and spending time with her family. She was known for her wit, intelligence and, above all, her disarming humor and laughter. Marshia was dearly loved and will be missed by her family and her dear friends." (end)

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An obituary in the Riverside County Record 07 December 2006 reads as follows:

JURUPA--Graveside services for Marshia Anne Matthews will be held Wednesday, 1 pm at Riverside National Cemetery. Mrs. Matthews died November 30. She was 59. A reception with the family will follow at 2:30 pm at the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Post 9223 on Arlington Avenue in Riverside.

Mrs. Matthews moved to Jurupa Hills from Santa Ana in 1976. Mrs. Matthews and her husband, John, had four children: Britt, Mandy(Amanda), Jessica, and Blake. Mrs. Matthews was a police service representative for the City of Riverside Police Department. She retired in 2001.

She was born April 18, 1947, in Oceanside to U.S. Marine Corps Major Virgil and Mrs. Beulah Hood. She was born at the U.S. Naval Hospital.. She was a brilliant sister, wife, mother, grandmother and friend, her children note.

Mrs. Matthews was graduated from Carlsbad High School and attended San Diego State University. She was a member of the Chi Omega Sorority. She married USMC Captain John Matthews in 1969 in Oceanside. The Matthews couple moved from Oceanside to Santa Ana for a couple of years and in 1976 arrived in Jurupa Hills where they have lived for the past 30 years.

Mrs. Matthews son, Britt is a paramedic.
Her daughter Mandy (Amanda) is a policewoman with the City of Fontana Police Department.
Her daughter, Jessica, works in Westwood in communications and public relations. Jessica attended UCLA where she became captain of the Bruins track and field team. Jessica starred at Rubidoux High and at UCLA in track and field and cross-country.
Mrs. Matthews son Blake is involved in construction.
Mrs. Matthews spent her many years singing, shopping for her family and redecorating her home.

Mrs. Matthews is survived by her husband John, her sister and brother in law, John Boodry; her children Britt (and daughter in law, Karin) Matthews; Mandy (Amanda Matthews) and (son-in-law) Frank Losch; Jessica Matthews and Blake Matthews; her grandchildren: Annalee, Annika, and Matti Losch.

(end)

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John and Marshia's children, Jessica and Blake must have a preponderance of John's athletic genes, and a separate news article is printed below. The order of birth of their children is hard to determine from a photo of the four of them, but here is my logic about Jessica's age.
John and Marshia were married in 1969. If Jessica was born in 1977, then she would have been a 21 year old junior at UCLA in 1998. A 1998 UCLA Women's Track Roster found on the Internet lists a Jessica Matthews, a junior, from Rubidoux High School in Riverside.

OK. So here's another news article, date and source unknown.

Jessica Matthews, Former Rubidoux Student Body President, Captain of UCLA's National Track Champions

Los Angeles – Jessica Lee Matthews, former student body president of Rubidoux High School, has been named captain of the UCLA women's track team, which recently won the Indoor National Championship.
Matthews is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Matthews of Indian Hills…

Matthews originally enrolled at the University of Colorado after graduation from Rubidoux High. She was a member of that university’s cross country team. Her father, at the time, was retiring from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. Mr. Matthews, a wounded Vietnam veteran, was eligible to have his children attend California universities free of tuition under a new state law prompting Jessica to transfer to UCLA.

Jessica’s brother, Blake, also took advantage of the California law for disabled veterans and enrolled at Hayward Univerity where he is the captain of that university’s soccer team.

Another sister, Amanda, is an officer with the Fontana Police Department, and
another brother, Britt, is a K9 officer with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department. He is stationed at Incline Village at Lake Tahoe.

Jessica and Blake received $500 scholarship awards from the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 47, headquartered in Rubidoux.” (end)

(Ed. July 2007. More recent info about John's children:
Britt is now a fireman/paramedic in Escondido.
Jessica and Blake were not the only siblings blessed with athleticism.
Amanda - she likes 'Mandy' better - played soccer and tennis at Cal State Hayward, and
in 1988 her soccer team was the NCAA Division 2 Champion. Britt also played soccer and swam for
Palomar College, a community college in San Marcos CA.

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Some more bits and pieces of John's life:

John joined the California National Guard, enlisting in May 1951 and served through May 1954. He was assigned to Btry B 149th AAA Bn(SP), San Bruno CA [Battery B, 149th Regiment(?), AntiAircraftArtillery Battalion (Self-Propelled)] as an Auto(matic?) Weapons Crewman. He qualified as a sharpshooter with the 30 caliber M1 carbine. He was discharged as a Private First Class(E-3).

After graduation from Burlingame High School, John enrolled at the University of Colorado at Boulder where he played football. The siren song of California was too strong and he returned to finish college at San Francisco State College.

After leaving the U.S. Marine Corps, John served with distinction for 24 years as a deputy with the County of Los Angeles Sheriff's Office, retiriing in April 1996. Doing the math, he would have started in 1972. The last American troops left Viet Nam in April 1975.

John writes in a note that he served for 10 years as a member of the Mt. San Antonio Support Committee for the track meet. We believe he is talking about the Mt. San Antonio College Relays, an annual event that started in 1959. According to the Mt. SAC Relays website,
The Mt. SAC Relays continue to survive as a nonprofit event because of its strong network of volunteers. This group of dedicated officials and the lay Games Committee work tirelessly to ensure the success of the Relays.;
Mt. San Antonio (Junior) College - located east of Los Angeles - serves the cities of Pomona, Irwindale, Walnut, and Covina, among others.

OBITUARY (Ed. Probably posted by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department
MATTHEWS, JOHN LEE

Ed. Born: April 25, 1937;

Retired Deputy, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, passed away on July 23, 2013.

Mr. Matthews joined the Sheriff's Department on November 1, 1971 and retired from Custody Division on March 16, 1996. Mr. Matthews also served on the Sheriff's Relief Association Board of Trustees from 1985 to 1995.

Services will be held at All Saints' Episcopal Church, 3847 Terracina Drive, Riverside Ca. on Friday, August 2, 2013 at 11:00 a. m. Interment will follow at the Riverside National Cemetery, 22495 Van Buren Blvd. Riverside Ca. at 1:00 p.m.
Published in the Los Angeles Times on July 30, 2013

OBITUARY
CAPTAIN JOHN LEE MATTHEWS, USMC retired

Passed away in Riverside, California on Tuesday, July 23, 2013, at age 76 after complications from diabetes.

"Big John" was a decorated military veteran who left his mark on many seminal moments in United States history. John began his career in uniform as a Patrolman in the Berkeley Police Department. He then served as a Captain in the Vietnam War, stationed there from 1967 to 1969. John was also a 1st Lieutenant in Cuba during the Missile Crisis, and was later stationed at Guantanamo.

Following his military deployment, he joined the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, where he served for 26 years as a Deputy. He was a Law Enforcement advisor to Peter Ueberroth, President of the Los Angeles Olympics from 1980 thru 1984.They had been elementary and high school classmates in Burlingame, California. John retired from Los Angeles Sheriff's Department in 1996.

Born in San Francisco on April 25, 1937, to John Stanley Matthews and Maxine Lillian Matthews, John graduated from Burlingame High School in 1955, where he was a star football player. He went on to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder on a football scholarship, then transferred to and received his Bachelors Degree from San Francisco State University.

Big John was known for his leadership, strength and competitive fire wherever he traveled - on the football or baseball fields, the boxing ring and the battlefields in Vietnam. He was a formidable opponent in the Police Olympics and was an arm wrestling All Star with no rival.

John could entertain friends and family for hours with stories of his challenges and triumphs. He was known for his warmth, kindness and penchant for good conversation, making sure to stop anyone passing by to chat. John is one of those few people who could light up a room just by showing up. Among Big John's favorite quips was one that characterized his time in Vietnam: "the ladies were beautiful and the people who weren't trying to kill me were nice." His disarming sense of humor and flirty demeanor won't soon fade in our memories.

Far beyond his wartime tales however, Big John will be forever remembered for his deep love of family. His conversations always centered around his four children, about whom he would brag to anyone who would listen. He was their biggest cheerleader on the soccer, tennis, baseball and football fields, and his was always the loudest voice on the sidelines at track and cross country meets or the pool. John was dearly loved and will be missed tremendously by his family and friends.

John was preceded in death by his wife and true love of 37 years, Marshia Anne Matthews, and by his parents in 1990 and 1994. John is survived by sons Britt of Carlsbad and Blake (Shelly) of Pasadena; daughters Amanda Losch (Frank) of Apple Valley and Jessica (Adam) of Los Angeles; grandchildren Annalee, Annika and Mattheus Losch; brother Jeff Matthews (Lori); sisters Jody McMillan (Jim) and Judy Matthews; and nieces and nephews, Jennifer, Candice and Adam Matthews, Sarah and Matthew McMillan, Demetri and Nikkon Arapoff and Glen Boodry.

In his later years John was happy, loved and comforted by Yvonne Mitchell. Services will be held at 11:00AM on Friday, August 2, 2013, at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Riverside. Gravesite services will then follow at Riverside Veterans National Cemetery, prior to a celebration of his life at the VFW in Riverside on Arlington. The family requests that in lieu of flowers please donate or participate in Movember to support men's health, prostate and testicular cancer.

Published in San Francisco Chronicle on July 31, 2013

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(Ed. How to donate by check: Make checks payable to Movember and send to the address below. Be sure to include a note with the name and registration of the registered participant that the donation is for. See more info at Movember.com) Movember PO Box 2726 Venice CA 90294-2726 Please indicate if you require a receipt. Please note that to speed up the process and save in postage costs, email is the preferred method for sending receipts.)

This letter written by John's sister, Joanne "Jody" Matthews McMillan (BHS Class of 1951), was mailed to the Burlingame High School Alumni Association on December 6, 2013

My brother, John Lee Matthews, 1955, died in July of last year. Johnny was a multi-talented person; an outstanding athlete, Golden Gloves boxer, all PAL in football, and baseball player. He also did a stint in the National Guard in high school.

John grew up in Burlingame, the second of four children. After graduation, he attended University of Colorado at Boulder on a football scholarship and later transferred to S.F. State to finish school.

He was a decorated military veteran who left his mark on many seminal moments in U.S. history. As a First Lieutenant in the Marines in Cuba during the Missile Crisis, "his platoon, without ammunition, was in sight of the enemy. They unflinchingly held their positions," John's quote from a Christian Science Monitor article of Sept. - Oct. 1962.

As a Captain in the Marines serving in Vietnam from 1967-1969, Johnny was one of few leaders who could say truthfully, that he had never lost a man. Towards evening, without discussion, he would pass his helmet and any drugs would be dropped into it.

One letter I received from Vietnam said it all. "Dear Jody, nothing new today - just murder, rape and destruction. John"

John had a special name in Vietnam. The Vietnamese called him, Big, Big Captain.

On rare occasions, John would tell the following story, which was retold by a marine at John's Memorial:
"Every combat Marine is issued an M-16. Vietnamese troops borrowed our M-16s and Regional Forces borrowed M-16s for Patrols. Upon troop rotation, the Marines wanted their M-16s back. A Tuntse refused to return his. He advised the owner that, since he was leaving Vietnam, he no longer needed it. In front of approximately 40 Marines and 20 Vietnamese, I had the Marine slowly recite his M-16 serial number. Embarrassed, the Tuntse threw his weapon at the Marine, then he pulled the pin from a grenade and pushed it into my chest. I advised all troops to step back. I advised the Tuntse we would both die together; furthermore, his family and friends would die, this position would be blown to bits, with no survivors. He pulled the grenade back and reinserted the pin. The Marine rotated home,"

Once John left the Marines, he served as a Deputy sheriff in Los Angeles for 26 years.

John knew and worked with Peter Ueberroth, President of the L.A. Olympic Games of 1984. They were longtime friends from school days. Pete spoke at John's Memorial. "He was my Law Enforcement Advisor. He put together operations throughout the numerous counties where the events were being held through the various sheriff Departments. I could not have done the job without John. The Olympics was a private venture and monies were limited. He was a true friend who always came through and did the job." You either loved or hated John, depending on his mood. He was a compassionate man and would help people in various ways. He carried blankets in his car, giving them out to homeless people where he found them. Always on the lookout for Veterans, he helped many get the benefits they had earned by their service. He was first and foremost a Marine and a dedicated family man. His wife Marshia preceded him in death. His children, Britt, Amanda, Jessica, and Blake and grandchildren Annalee, Annika, and Mattheus, survive him.

I conclude with a few words from Johnny's cousin. "I looked up to him as a young man because of the way he seemed always to stand up for what is right. He had such a gentle exterior for someone who had seen it all as a young man. I always respected him for his selfless dedication to others and I will miss his smile which was always genuine. He was a great guy."