Karl Brown Matthews

Karl Brown Matthews. It is with great sadness that the family announces his passing on Monday, June 4, 2018, in Columbus, OH, at age 94 from complications of pneumonia. Karl was born May 5, 1924, in Indianapolis, IN, and lived in other cities in Indiana, California, and Michigan before settling in Columbus in 1956. He served as a Navy pilot on various carriers, including the USS INTREPID, in the Pacific toward the end of WWII. He graduated from Purdue University in 1949 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. Over the years he worked at North American Aviation, Rockwell International, Northrop Aircraft, Chrysler Missile Division, and Cornell Aero Lab on various ballistic missile systems including SNARK, REDSTONE, and early cruise missiles. Karl was most proud of two events in his life: Receiving custody of his three children after a divorce in 1964 and raising them as a devoted "single parent," long before the term was commonly used. And of retiring in order to take his 92-year old mother on long-dreamt of travels to Europe and across the US, and of caring for her before she died of breast cancer at age 97. Karl was preceded in death by his father James Karl Matthews (1937), mother Lillian E. (Brown) Matthews (1995), brother James Kemper Matthews (1922), sister Mary E. (Matthews) Yunker (1995), grandson Michael McGillivray (1994), and special companion (and high school sweetheart), Jessie (Robinson) Partington (2015). Survivors include son Karl B. Matthews (Ardys) of Eugene, OR, daughters Mary E. Matthews of Columbus, OH, and Amy L. Schulz (Charles) of Campbell, CA, grandsons Matthew C. Schulz of Campbell, CA, and Jeffery McGillivray of Eugene, OR, and great-grandchildren Mikey and Natalie McGillivray of Eugene, OR, and extended family in Florida, Indiana, Ohio, Colorado, Michigan, and New Hampshire. Karl considered himself one of the luckiest men in the world. He loved to say "I've had a wonderful trip through life." Arrangements have been entrusted to the SCHOEDINGER EAST CHAPEL, 614-861-6268. Please visit www.Schoedinger.com to share a memory of Karl.