Rest in the arms of the lord, dearest uncle Pelham. Your work on this earth is done. Your memory and everything you stood for will forever be cherished in our hearts.

I am very sorry for the loss of your father. My deepest condolences to all of your family. We had some really good times and laughs together doing renovations and eating hotdogs. I will always be thankful to him for getting me back to Montréal.  He was a good friend and I will miss him.

Our most sincere and deepest condolences to the Mathews family.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time.   May his memory be internal and May he Rest In Peace.  



Part 2
There were many times that we would just become, talked out. I remember, his vivid narrations of the stories of his youth in Guyana with my father, his older brother, ten years his senior. (Godfrey Matthews) Especially the story of him as a youngster, following my father into the bush and coming in contact with the “Big Cat” 
Selfish as it sounds,  we will miss his random calls to see how we all are doing and especially his sister in-law “ Sister Eva”. We will miss his untainted advice on the importance of family and relationships as well as the need to express oneself to one another. I admit I felt glorious and was beaming when he told me he was proud of me and my family and what we had achieved. 

To my beloved Uncle  Pelham, we love you and it is with great sadness that we are saying our goodbyes for now. Your life lives on in us and we are grateful for the time and experiences we have had with you.  We are all better human beings because of you. So Goodbye until we meet again in God. For Eternal  is your Memory. 


To my beloved Uncle Pelham, I cannot even describe the high level of intensity of which you will be missed by me and my family.  I am and will forever be grateful to have been able to speak with you just before you fell into your deep sleep. We love you and will always cherish our times together. Eternal be your memory! 
If anything can be said about Uncle Pelham, it was his ability to embrace others with love, cherishing the times of togetherness that we all shared (pre-covid). His stories and his jokes , (Oh the laughter), on one visit we laughed for a long while when we were leaving because I caught tears in his welled up eyes as we were saying our goodbyes. He denied it profusely, with all kinds of excuses,saying “that something got caught in his eye “( yeah tears) then finally admitting it with the initial rational  and sucking in his teeth “that a real man sheds tears every once in awhile, embrace your femininity boy” That made our stay even longer, we could not leave on that note. 
Attesting to Uncle Pelhams admirable personality and character, once we visited unannounced and as a consequence he called all of his 5 children and was insistent that they all come to meet up with me, my wife, my 5 children, brother in-law and their Aunt Eva. It was a wonderful time of togetherness. Never forgotten and still talked about by all the family.  
I used to make fun of my father and how he would be talking with his friends and family all the while napping in between, until he fell into a full uninterrupted sleep. Well I have become my father, as the long talks with Uncle Pelham, pre-covid and his illness attest too . Our talks , via telephone would go on for a while, lulling one of us into la la land, or until one of us fell asleep (me) only to be woken up with a “eh eh you snore like a Matthews. The Matthews genes are strong in you.”  (Part1)

Uncle Pelham was always there to lend a listening ear and a sincere word of advice. We will forever treasure his kindness and warmth.  Rest In Peace dear uncle - you are deeply missed. 
Love, Charles and Raffaella, Gerry and Michelle and family 

Dear Keith and  family,

 our heartfelt condolences on the loss of your Dad.   Sending our love and  wishing  you peace, comfort and courage at this difficult time.    


Pelham was my dear brother-in-law who became for me the big brother I never had. I will always remember when I was 13 years old, how Pelham made it possible for me to attend evening bible study classes some distance away from home. Being able to socialise with my friends was important to me and I would not have been allowed to attend those classes, had Pelham not volunteered to pick me up after the classes and take me home.
Pelham would arrive to get me, always with a cheerful smile, always on time as he 'roared' up on his powerful Triumph motor bike, twenty-one fifty two (the number plate) as the bike was known. I would proudly sit behind Pelham, hanging on to his shoulders, but feeling very safe as he revved  the engine and we zoomed off in style to the envy of my friends who watched in awe, before making their way home-- WALKING. That was Pelham --Kind, cheerful and dependable. Someone who made time for you. Over the six decades plus years that I have known my brother-in-law he hasn't changed. He remained the lovely and wonderful person I met and came to love when my sister introduced him to our family. I have only happy, countless memories of Pelham. Memories that always make me smile. On my birthdays as I grew older, every year, Pelham would tease me. He would lovingly greet me with, 'Happy birthday, Old Fowl', and then promise to look for the pressure cooker he thought I needed for my old bones. We would then have a laugh and hilarious banter about which one of us needed the pressure cooker more. Pelham was a peaceful soul. He was kind, upright and just. My mother loved him. She was forever singing his praises. He had a sense of humour and was so much fun.  I loved and respected him to the end, as a loyal brother-in-law, brother and friend, all rolled into one. He was dearly loved and will not be forgotten. However, goodbyes are not forever and goodbyes are not the end. They simply mean I'll miss you until we meet again. May you rest in perfect peace Pelham. 

To all the family my Sincere condolences though he may gone from us he will not be forgotten God has a plan for each and everyone of us and he his plan is for him to be with him in his sanctuary  be strong keep the fate and God bless you all🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
Juneann Edna daughter. 

My earliest memory of Pelham was as my big sister's cool boyfriend who rode his Yamaha motorbike with Shirley on the back.

He was a kind and understanding brother-in-law who was a talented story teller and always had a joke to give.

I would always look forward to our time together on the cruise where Pelham would check the various buffets for the best shrimp and seafood spread.  :)

Pelham, you will never be forgotten. I will think about you always and treasure the happy memories of our times together but more specially our times on those many  cruises  we shared with my big sister Shirley .

I will always love you. Rest in peace until we meet again.

Claire

Part 3 - Back in town, his vehicle of choice was a motorbike and like the young man about town, he would socialise with friends. He told me of an incident involving an accident he was involved in as he rode to a party with his friend Dennis Persaud. Following the collision, Pelham was concerned that he had damaged his motorbike but Persaud assured him that all was well, as the bottle needed for entry to the party had not been broken.

With marriage and the passing of time in Canada, Pelham’s professional career embraced responsible tasks, but this did not prevent him from maintaining his keen DIY interests and from raising five wonderful and successful children who are a credit to both him and their mother Shirley.

In retirement, we met up annually on cruises which were some of the highlights of our retirement. Sadly for health reasons and Covid those years ended all too abruptly.

My children and I convey our heartfelt sympathy for the passing of Pelham. I will always remember him as a polite, respectable and caring person, a great raconteur, a good friend and a man for all seasons.

MAY HE REST IN PEACE


Part 2 -
This is meant to be a tribute to Pelham and whilst time does not allow to fully showcase the young Pelham, a few short exemplars might go some way to reveal some interesting elements of his character and experiences that might have escaped your knowledge.
Pelham told me that for long periods of his childhood his father worked in the interior, or as we Guyanese call it ‘in the bush.’ The regular work-related absence of his father and Pelham’s visits to see him seemed to play a large part in his development and maturity as a person. It seems these circumstances developed his positive ‘can do’ attitude, toughness, sociability, reliability and good humour. Whilst not the eldest of his siblings, he from a young age took on the important and responsible role of running chores for his mother and shopping for produce in the market. Forever having an eye for a bargain, he in time became very adept at encouraging market vendors to reduce their prices on the basis that their goods were in his opinion of shoddy standard or could be purchased elsewhere and for cheaper. Always streetwise, he told me he was often successful in beating down their prices, but sometimes the vendors took offence to his opinion of their merchandise and told him so in colourful language and he was not averse to replying in kind.
Trips to visit his father in the interior allowed Pelham the opportunity to hunt for labba, swim and dive in the deep black waters of the Pomeroon River and whilst in the bush, come face to face and only narrowly evade one of the varieties of Guyanese tigers. In his early professional life as a Housing Officer, he revisited this Essequibo region as he was tasked with the duty of venturing into the interior with large amounts of cash, to pay construction workers who were building residential homes on cleared bushland. The dangers of Pelham carrying out this task in such remote areas should be obvious. (Part 2)


Part 1 - 
I first met Pelham in 1958 when we were both courting sisters from the Harry family. History shows that the two courtships blossomed, Philma becoming Mrs. Solomon and Shirley becoming Mrs. Matthews, both keeping the vows of ‘till death do us part.’

I would see Pelham most mornings, but we were generally going in opposite directions. While I was cycling to the city with Philma he was on his motorcycle going to collect Shirley, to take her to the office where they both worked. The timing of our brief encounters on the road would have meant Pelham’s punctuality was somewhat off, but doubtless, his charm and winning personality would have smoothed over any problems he may have encountered with his employer. 

Pelham and I were young men at the time of our first meeting, both living in and around Georgetown. I was about 20 years old and he was four years my senior. I must admit to being a little in awe of him as his life experiences at his relatively tender age far exceeded mine, as I will illustrate in a moment. 

I lost regular contact with Pelham when he immigrated to Canada as I did to England, but certainly, the man I knew in 1958 was a great bon vivant and storyteller, a skill that made him great company. The man was certainly fun to be with and as we discussed all manner of things, social, sporting, economic, academic and domestic, it became clear to me that whilst my life to this point had been far from dull, Pelham’s activities from a very early age somewhat placed my experiences in the shade.
I am now an old man but I used to be young, as did Pelham and many people reading this or hearing this may only know Pelham as the responsible father and husband, that stable, mature gentleman. Whilst these are good qualities, there are those who might foolishly interpret these traits as a bit dull. Well, you could never say that Pelham was dull. (Part 1)

I considered Uncle Pelham my energetic uncle. He greeted me with much energy in his voice, so whether it was a physical or telephonic contact, I felt he was focused on being with me. I enjoyed his recounting of his youth in Guyana and his early years in attempting to establish himself in Canada. 
To the end you held your head up with that Plum sly smile.
Rest well uncle Plum. I still hear your voice. I still see your head cooked to the side with your sly smile. 
Walk good.

OBITUARIO

Charles Pelham Matthews

16 octubre, 1934 – 22 enero, 2022

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