Shirley Matthews

From the Hudson Valley to Lexington, Kentucky, and Lynchburg for the past thirty years, Shirley Matthews eagerly anticipates her new residence at Westminster Canterbury. Born in Kingston, NY, she graduated in 1950 from New York State College for Teachers with a major in English. She married into a large family (as an only child), one week after graduation. Jack Matthews, a West Point graduate who worked for IBM most of his adult life was the love of her life and died in 2004 after 56 years of marriage. They built a strong family of four children…Jonathan, Diane, Cindy, and Jim.

Shirley was always home room mother, Cub Scout leader, Sunday School teacher, Girl Scout leader, and Team Mom. She was the first President of the Junior League of Lexington who was not from Kentucky (!), and she co-chaired the Junior League Horse Show, the largest outdoor horseshow in the world. Shirley still found time to volunteer at the Manchester Center, one of the first organizations for the underserved in Lexington.

Family was always first, and with four children came degrees from RMWC, Duke, Furman, VCU, Vanderbilt, UK, Auburn Veterinary School, and Emory Law School. Shirley realized she was going to need a career. Beginning in administration, she quickly became Dean of Faculty for Kentucky Junior College of Business, a position she held for 18 years as she guided various accreditations and exponential growth. She was appointed to the Kentucky State Board of Education by Governor John Y. Brown.

Shirley’s passion is sports, particularly college basketball, golf, and tennis. For years she played tennis at Oakwood on Mondays, and Boonsboro on Wednesdays. Tuesdays and Thursdays found her on the golf course at Boonsboro. She was President of the Boonsboro Ladies Golf Association, and still smiles at the memory of a hole-in-one while playing golf with her son Jim in Dallas. She is now watching these sports but loves her recall of facts about teams and players.