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Chattanooga: Matthews remembered for community service

By: Kelli Gauthier
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When a young, inner-city student, with tears in her eyes, asked Debra Matthews why people referred to her school as “low-performing,” Ms. Matthews knew she had to take action.

So the longtime Hamilton County Board of Education member approached her good friend state Rep. Tommie Brown, D-Chattanooga, about changing the terminology.

Today, schools that have failed to make adequate yearly progress no longer are called “low-performing” but “high priority.”

That story, told by Rep. Brown, was one of many shared Thursday at Ms. Matthews’ funeral to illustrate her dedication to children and their education. The officiating pastor, the Rev. Paul McDaniel, said the service was meant to be a “celebration of her life, her labor and her love.”

Ms. Matthews, 58, served on the Hamilton County Board of Education for 10 years. She died early Sunday at Memorial Hospital. Immediately after her funeral, she was buried at Forest Hills Cemetery.

The funeral, held at Ms. Matthews’ longtime home church, Second Missionary Baptist, focused on how she gave of herself to family, friends and community.

“(Debra) died because her body was broken, broken in the service of giving what she had,” Mr. McDaniel said. “And she gave it without reservation.”

Several hundred people packed into the church on East Third Street to listen to classmates, cousins, elected officials and friends remember Ms. Matthews through words and music.

About 12 members of Ms. Matthews’ 1967 graduating class from Howard High School attended. One of those classmates, Ronald Harris, said he remembered singing with her in the Second Missionary church choir as a child and an adult.

“What’s really important is how you spend your days,” Mr. Harris said. “Debra’s days were full.”

An active member of her Alton Park community, Ms. Matthews addressed environmental issues, founding the Alton Park/Piney Woods Neighborhood Improvement Corp. She also worked with the Chattanooga Human Rights-Human Relations Commission and most recently was re-elected to her third full term on the school board.

Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Jim Scales outlined the accomplishments Ms. Matthews saw while on the school board, including higher test scores in her District 4 schools, the renovation of several facilities and the construction of new buildings, including the new Orchard Knob Elementary that opened earlier this month.

“We all knew Debra as a warrior for those things she believed in,” Dr. Scales said.

Many referred to the funeral of the devout Ms. Matthews as a “homegoing.” As the service ended and those in attendance filed out pew by pew, the organist played a hymn most people there knew by heart — “When We All Get to Heaven.”

As the chorus repeated over and over, more voices joined in until the entire church sang, “When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory!”

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