Monday, November 3, 2008

Larry "Doc" Mathews Dies


An absolute shame. The passing of "Doc" Mathews was is an absolute blow to the community for which he had taken such a part in making a better place. I am in shock that someone so vibrant and filled with life can be taken so suddenly. He will be missed by everyone whom he ever came in contact.

Doc Mathews, as we called him at Lindenwood, and I presume at Parkway West High School prior to becoming Assistant Professor at Lindenwood University, was a huge inspiration to me when having to take statistics, returning to school at 40 years old. It was he who made it such a joy to return to school after years of being out of academics. I had never even finished algebra in high school, but he guided me and the rest of our class on a journey to "getting it", as he said we would, most of us intimidated by the concepts that we would need to embrace. He was an absolute brilliant communicator and teacher, simplifying that which most of us would try and over-complicate. I remember several things that he passed on to us. One being when making a presentation: "tell them what you want to say, say it, and then tell them what you just said!". This has stayed with me for a long time.

He made learning logical, his gift. His humor injected that which we all could relate, yet his standards of teaching were impeccable.

Our hearts go out to Tag and the rest of the Mathews family.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was a student of his at Lindenwood. He was a great person to know. This morning I heard a Lindenwood professor passed away at Kentucky Lake. I hoped it wasn't him, but I knew he went there quite a bit. I guess this confirms my suspicion.

The ralph account said...

A memorial service will be held at St. Johns Lutheran in Ellisville on Wed. Just a shame, a really, really good guy.