The following is the second part of the Dowagiac Daily News’ look at the life and times of Dowagiac’s Fred Mathews, the founder of Southwestern Michigan College. Mathews died Sunday, at the age of 87.

Transforming the city

While his herculean effort to establish Southwestern Michigan College and guide it through its first half-century of life will serve as the crown jewel of his legacy, Fred Mathews’ impact stretches far beyond the confines of the community college.

Thanks to the longtime Dowagiac resident’s signature tenacity, ingenuity and steady leadership, the Grand Old City is more than just a place where young people study. It is a place where residents and visitors alike come to shop, play and eat, amidst the Victorian-era storefronts and streetscape of Dowagiac’s downtown district.

During the 1980s, Dowagiac, like many other small towns, was devastated by the expansion of malls and retail chains in larger cities in the preceding decades. By the late 80s, Dowagiac’s downtown, once the heart of the city’s commerce, was a shadow of its former self, with the hotels, movie theaters and other major attractions that once populated Front and Commercial streets long gone.

“Any community is judged by its downtown,” said Dowagiac Mayor Don Lyons. “When people think of communities like Cassopolis, South Bend or Niles, the downtown is where their mind goes. And unless the image in their mind is of something positive, you’re in trouble.”

For Mathews, whose optometry business was located downtown, watching his hometown fall into decline was unacceptable.

Just as he had decades earlier as the leader of the Greater Dowagiac Association, the doctor took the bull by the horns to restore Dowagiac’s business community to its former glory.

In 1988, Mathews became chairman of the Dowagiac Downtown Development Authority, established by the city to fix its ailing downtown.

Like his quest to establish SMC nearly 30 years earlier, the odds were not in Mathews’ favor. After all, how could a small city like Dowagiac succeed where so many other communities, with more money and manpower, faltered?

However, Mathews would not accept anything other than complete success.

Through smart political maneuvering, Mathews and other members of the DDA were able to secure capital for their efforts, from the state and other sources.

“He was extremely driven,” Lyons said. “He probably accomplished more with less than anyone I have ever known.”

The DDA kicked off several initiatives aimed at improving the downtown area, including moving the state truck line from Front to Division to make it more pedestrian friendly, as well as burying utility lines and creating crosswalks. Nearly every storefront was restored as well, bringing the buildings back to the mid-1800s architectural style, when most of the downtown’s structures were erected.

Today, the downtown is regarded as one of Michigan’s best, with an assortment of different shops, restaurants and studios. Many storefronts also have apartments above their businesses, making downtown not just a place for commerce but for living as well.

Although Mathews retired from his position on the DDA after 10 years in 1998, Lyons and other officials at city hall have continued to improve Dowagiac’s downtown, purchasing and restoring faltering storefronts, constructing new structures such as the James E. Snow Professional Building or overhauling portions of the district, such as last year’s renovation of Commercial and Division streets.

“His vision for the downtown is still something we are pursuing to this day,” Lyons said. “Everything we have accomplished over the past 20 years would not have been possible without his work.”

In December, the city honored Mathews for his achievements, and asked him to cut the ceremonial ribbon at the dedication ceremony for Commercial Street project.

A legacy for the future

While SMC and the downtown are the most visual monuments of his legacy, Mathews touched countless lives through many different programs and efforts to which he volunteered his time.

Mathews started a vision screening with the Tri-County Head Start, which provided free eye care services for children. The doctor received an award for his efforts, said David Mathews, Fred’s son.

“He had a very soft spot in his heart for kids living in poverty, just as he had growing up,” David said.

Mathews — a longtime member of the Dowagiac Rotary Club — also helped establish Rotary Villa, a subsidized senior housing community, in 1987. The service club stands to inherit ownership of the property once the mortgage is paid off, which is expected to take place in 2027.

Even after his retirement from the optometry business, Mathews continued to dedicate his time and energy to improving Dowagiac.

After the Dowagiac Nursing Home closed in 2007, Mathews kicked off the effort to resurrect the facility. He eventually got in contact with Atrium Living Centers, which restored and reopened the nursing home as The Timbers of Cass County, which remains open today.

Mathews later became a member of the Timbers’ community advisory board, which meets quarterly at the nursing facility.

“After the meetings he would always visit with some of the residents he knew, or talk with some of people working there,” said Barbara Groner, community liaison with the company. “He wanted The Timbers to succeed so much.”

Even someone as driven as Mathews still made time for family, especially after the birth of his grandchildren, David said.

While he could be fiery when it came to fighting for a cause he believed was just, Mathews could be just as charming, said Tom Jerdon, the current SMC chairman who worked alongside Mathews for decades on the board of trustees.

One thing that Jerdon will remember the doctor best by was his sense of humor, he said. Mathews was fond of telling jokes during dinner parties, stealthily whipping out a small black notebook where he had written some of his favorite lines down to jog his memory, Jerdon said.

Groner, who was a member of Rotary alongside Mathews since 2000, will remember Mathews for his softer side. She recalled one particular meeting years ago, where Mathews welcomed Marilu Franks — a perspective member of the club at the time — with a unique gesture when she greeted him at the door, Groner said.

“Fred told her, ‘I think a hug would be better than a handshake,’” Groner said. “It started a tradition that continues to today.”

Whether they are one of the hundreds of students who receive a degree from SMC every spring, one of the thousands who enjoy what Dowagiac’s downtown has to offer or one of the many who were greeted by Mathews’ warm smile during his time living in the Grand Old City, generations of people will feel the late doctor’s influence in the years to come.

“It is impossible to overstate what he had done for the city of Dowagiac,” Lyons said. “I cannot imagine where we would be right now without his contributions.”