Silhouette

Issue date: 9/14/06 Section: Front Page

Media Credit: Jason Rose Jim Mathews, Garden City, shaves a layer of clay for a class project. Mathews has been attending class at GCCC for 19 years.

He was born before the depression, and defended our country during World War II. He now creates works of art that are displayed in the Fine Arts building. Jim Mathews, 85, may just reign as the non-traditional student who has attended GCCC the longest.

As students walk through the east doors of the Fine Arts building they are greeted by a ceramic masterpiece. Twenty-five individually hand sculpted tiles form a mural of pottery expression. This was no class project, nor was it the work of a traditional student. This work of stunning achievement was completed 10 years ago by Mathews while enrolled in Ken McCollum's ceramics class.

Mathews has been a long-standing collaborator of the arts department. First enrolling in 1987, he took woodworking as a hobby. Since this time he has seen three instructors and hundreds of students.

"As a general helper here, he has shown students strong work ethic. They ask him questions and he's always there to help," Brian McCallum, art department instructor, said. "His attitude really reflects his career as a teacher."

Mathews moved to Kansas during the depression, working on a ranch through his teenage years and later graduating high school. From this point he worked for Boeing airplanes until he joined the war effort as a merchant seaman.

"My time in the service was very enjoyable," Mathews said. "Being stationed in North Africa and sailing the open sea, our job duty was delivering supplies and transferring German prisoners of war."

As his time in the service ended Mathews spent many hours hitting the books at college. He earned an associate's certificate, a bachelor's degree in education, and a master's in Library Science from Emporia.

"Young people keep you young" Mathews said. "I've enjoyed working with younger people my whole life. It's the grading papers I hated."

For Brian McCallum and the other art students, having Mathews around is a true inspiration. McCallum states that Mathew's originality and vitality cannot be taught. As not only an instructor but also a learner himself McCallum finds wisdom from his most mature and dedicated student.

"Through three instructors and lots of changes Jim has remained a constant to our department. " McCallum said "An illustration to students everywhere on campus, traditional or not. "His worldliness and experience is a prime example of what a community college really is."

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