Donald Jeune Matthews
b. February 11, 1926
d. November 25, 2018

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchill

Don Matthews was the eighth of ten children born in Brantford to immigrants from Guernsey, Channel Islands. His father worked at the Brantford Expositor as a stereotyper. At 17, Don enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and was trained as a tail gunner.

After the war, he graduated in Engineering at Queen’s University, and married Joyce Drake, also of Brantford. They moved to London, Ontario, and had six children: Dona, Shelley, Deborah, Virginia, Jack, and Carole. He later married Phyllis Gorman, with whom he had three children: Joseph, Cayleah, and Gabrielle.

In 1953 he borrowed $5,000 to buy his first backhoe, and established Matthews Construction, which grew to Matthews Group, an international construction company. In 1972, he was elected President of the national Progressive Conservative party. Later, he was elected to the board of the Bank of Canada.

His proudest achievement was being part of the creation of the Thames Valley Parkway, the 40km path that runs throughout London and is enjoyed by countless runners, walkers, strollers and cyclists.

With the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, he began to slow down, and moved to Sunnybrook Hospital K Wing, where he was tended with dignity by the compassionate staff and his devoted caregiver, Thelma Abriam.

Don was predeceased by five sisters: Una, Florence, Mabel, Winnifred, and Josephine, and two brothers, Victor and Frank. He leaves behind two sisters, Shirley Pettigrew and Barbara Rutherford, nine children, twenty-one grandchildren, twenty-one great-grandchildren, and sixteen nieces and nephews.