Jerry Lee Matthews passed peacefully into the hereafter on Monday, January 12, 2015, with his wife beside him. Jerry was born 11/02/1945 in Tucson, AZ, to Howard O. Matthews and Eloise Hardy Matthews. He graduated from Catalina High School in 1964 where he was active in football, wrestling, and track. He worked at the World Fair in New York in 1965.
After wrangling in The Last Cattle Drive in 1975, Jerry was drawn to the mountains of Arizona and New Mexico and worked for the U.S. Forest Service as a Wilderness Patrol man. He saw an opportunity and made his home in the Mangas Valley in 1979. He was very creative and resourceful. He designed the earth sheltered adobe in which he lived with Mary, three dogs and one cat.
Jerry was instrumental in the design and construction of many of the hot pools at Faywood Hot Springs in the late '70s. He loved the Gila National Forest and Wilderness for its rugged beauty and spent many years in the mountains as a combination guide, outfitter and trail builder. He was one of the original founders of the Silver City Food Coop. In recent years, he kept busy as a chimney sweep.
Jerry was a deeply spiritual man. He loved to participate as often as he could in a variety of Native American prayer ceremonies and conducted purification and prayer lodges for anyone who asked for one. He lived his life around the qualities of Love, Hope, Faith and Charity. During recent years, he focused on helping and supporting people in their efforts to overcome chemical dependency.
Jerry will be greatly missed and honored in memory by his surviving relatives, including his wife of 27 years Mary Osmer, his step-daughter Eva and her husband Matthew Levi of Las Cruces, NM, his brother William Washburn of Tucson, AZ, and a number of aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews; and by many ceremonial relatives throughout the nation. He is preceded in death by his parents and by his grandparents Charles O. and Estella Matthews and William B. and Ella Dye Hardy.
Jerry's family is very grateful for all the many prayers, healing ceremonies and loving support provided for Jerry during his battle with cancer over the past months; and, for the compassionate and expert health providers at the University of Arizona Medical and Cancer Centers and Gila Regional Medical and Cancer Centers. Cremation will be conducted by Terrazas Crematory. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 31, 2015, at 2:00 p.m. at Terrazas Funeral Chapels located at 1 Ft. Bayard Rd. Santa Clara, NM. Flowers or a donation in Jerry's name to any charity is optional. Arrangements are with Terrazas Funeral Chapels and Crematory "Trusted care for the ones you love" ~ 575-537-0777. To send condolences, visit www.terrazasfuneralchapel.com.