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In Memory Of Our Poets

Maximilian "Max" Wellborn Matthews (1922-1991) - Class Of 1940

Max Matthews remembered as leader

By Genoa Boykins
Star Staff Writer

     Memorial services for longtime Anniston businessman Maximilian Wellborn Matthews will be Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Grace Episcopal Church.

     Soldier, lawyer and banker, Mr. Matthews was called a "grand friend and a great leader" by Les Edwards, his former colleague at First Alabama Bank.

     Mr. Matthews attended public schools in Anniston and Montgomery.  He graduated from Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery in 1940 and graduated from the University of Alabama with a B.S. in Commerce and business administration in 1944.

     A graduate of Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning in 1944, Mr. Matthews spent two years fighting in Europe in World War II.  He was unit commander of the anti-tank Co. 263 Infantry, 66th Infantry Division during this time.

     After the war, Mr. Matthews went to law school.  He graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1949.  He returned to Anniston, where he practiced law from 1949 to 1957.

     He was senior vice president and trust officer of First Alabama, then named Anniston National Bank, and was also on the bank's board of directors.

     He retired in 1984 after 27 years of service.

     Edwards, who also served on the board at First Alabama, said Mr. Matthews was an asset to the business community and active in several civic organizations as well.

     Joe Cotlin, a former co-worker who is now executive vice president and loan officer at SouthTrust Bank of Calhoun, agrees.

     "I thought Max was a real gentleman in the sense of the word,"  Cotlin said.  "His relaxed charm and keen, dry wit, and genial manner overlay his principles.  He had great principles of honor and responsibility toward his clientele and the people he worked with."

     Mr. Matthews was a member of the Kiwanis Club of Anniston, past president of the Anniston Water Works and Sewer Board.  He was a founder and one of the first board members of the Donoho School.

     He was past president of the Calhoun County Bar Association and was a member of the Anniston Country Club and Mountain Brook Club.

     Survivors include his wife, Mrs. Antoinette S. Matthews of Anniston; two daughters, Mrs. Frances Bradley Matthews Proctor of Pensacola, Fla., and Mrs. Margaret Wellborn Matthews Daugherty of Birmingham; a son, Maximilian Wellborn Matthews II of Roanoke, Va.; a stepdaughter. Mrs. Ruth Ann Thompson of Anniston; a stepson, William T. Deyo of Atlanta; three sisters, Mrs. Mary M. Crabtree of Anniston, Mrs. Margaret M. Raines of Upper Montclair, N.J., and Mrs. Elizabeth M. Sellers of Anniston; five grandchildren; and four step grandchildren.

     Gray Brown-Service Mortuary was in charge of arrangements.

     In Lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to a favorite charity.

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Obituary and photographs below submitted to this site by Max's son, Maxmilian Wellborn Matthews, II

 
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10/05/10 02:20 AM #1    

Minna Dent Roth (Hill) (1970)


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