Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

Tom Matthews, who grew up in Haines but moved to the upper valley to pursue a life outdoors, died July 7 at a Boise, Idaho, hospital from abdominal cancer. He was 60.

Patti Day, of Boise, said her brother's health declined while serving a decade as caregiver for his wife Kathy Lake, who died in January. Matthews' brother, Hal Matthews, died in December.

"He was so looking forward to doing the things he enjoyed. Now he's not going to get to do any of that," Patti Day said.

Thomas Robert Matthews was the youngest of three children of Cliff and Marge Matthews, of Haines, and grew up hunting, fishing, crabbing and trapping. "He was born a hundred years too late," said former City of Haines Mayor Dave Berry, a childhood friend.

Matthews struggled in school but earned his GED.

He worked at the Berry family's Food Center grocery store stocking produce for several years, then built a home at 34 Mile and found work for 17 years as a laborer on large construction jobs that took him to Nome, Coldfoot, Kake, Wrangell, Ketchikan and the Aleutians.

He also served seven years in the Alaska National Guard.

"He loved to gold pan," his sister said. "He got a little sluice box and a dredge and he'd pan wherever he went. When Kathy got sick, he had to give it up."

Day said her brother avoided crowds and came to town only about once a week. "He was gruff and he had a strong work ethic. If you didn't live up to his standards for hard work, he could be tough on you, but underneath that he was very caring and compassionate."

Matthews enjoyed spending time at his property and recreating with a few friends, including Bob Piper, of Haines, a friend for more than 40 years who served as officiant at Tom and Kathy's midwinter wedding on frozen Chilkat Lake.

Piper said Matthews called him to say goodbye a few days before his death. Matthews was a good friend and the two spent much time snowmachining in the Kelsall and Porcupine valleys and at Chilkat Lake, Piper said.

"He was a modern-day mountain man. Anything to do with the outdoors, that was his life," Piper said.

Day said her brother apparently had been ill for more than a year, but resisted medical attention. She took him to her home in Boise for medical care, where he died of complications, including a bleeding tumor.

He requested his ashes be spread with his wife's at Chilkat Lake.

Matthews is survived by sister Patti Day, of Boise, and by cousins Betty, Janie and Troy Clark, of Haines.