Grayson County TXGenWeb

Tyler Morning Telegraph
December 2, 2010

William Arthur "Dub" Mathews was born May 21, 1916 in Denton. He died November 29, 2010 in Tyler.
His parents were William Alvin Mathews and Annie Francis Spikes. Alvin was 17 when he rode the train with his bride, Bessie, from Tennessee to Texas. Bessie died a few years later. He then married Annie Francis Spikes. Together they had 9 children. William Arthur was their sixth child. He outlived all of his brothers, sisters and step-brothers.
Dub first married Polly Smithson of Whitesboro. They had 3 children: Barbara Rains (deceased), William A. "Bill" of Carrollton and Rose Anne Georg of Paris. They were faithful members of the Lamar Avenue Church of Christ in Paris from 1953 until Polly died of cancer in 1973.
A friend introduced Dub to Opal Burran Stevens of Tyler. Soon they married. She survives him after 37 years of marriage. He was blessed in this marriage by the love they shared and the love of her 3 daughters. His daughters by this marriage were Geri Moore of Tyler, Francis Broome of Whitesboro and Marilu Epperson (deceased). He is also survived by 5 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.
Dub was an athlete, a taxi driver at 17 and a bus driver at 18, driving for the Continental Trailways Bus Co. He drove for 49 years and had driven more than 3 million miles with no accidents. For the last 35 years Dub was a member of the West Erwin Church of Christ in Tyler.
He retired at the age of 65; his hobbies were making toys of wood, which he freely gave away.
The funeral was held Friday, December 3 in the chapel of Burks Walker Tippit Funeral Home with Don Crawford officiating. The burial was in Oakwood Cemetery on December 4.