Name: Charles D (Dan) Matthews (If you call me any derivation of Charles, you don’t know me, I’m called Dan.)

Birthplace: Bothwell Hospital in Sedalia. Grew up just outside Knob Noster.

Years in Lexington and Lafayette County: My Mom’s family was scattered among Lexington, Concordia and Knob Noster, thus, family reunions as long as I can remember up until high school graduation. Two years Junior College (& ROTC) at Wentworth. Took my commission at WMA, then off to the Army. Retired (see below) chose Lexington to live, moved here from South Korea in Fall of 2016. So, not my hometown but my home now.

Family: Married, no kids. Brother in Ireland, Sister in Kansas City, nieces, nephews and cousins in Texas, Virginia and Arkansas. Got 3rd cousins in Dover.

Best Thing About Living in Lexington: Small town USA, great, great people making our community what it is — A Great Place to Live.

Occupation: Retired US Army, Retired Defense Contactor and Retired US Army Civilian. (Took me 3 times to get it right…)

What I wanted to be when I grew up: Guess…yup, Soldier. First job: Farming for my Dad. 2nd job was far more interesting — sold Town & Country ladies shoes in Columbia whilst finishing college. Yup, beat farming hands down. Think about it, a college boy paid to work indoors in air conditioning, helping ladies try on shoes… what a great job!

Best childhood memory: Going with my Dad to work cattle, life on a farm in the late 50’s, 60’s, & early 70’s. Working for my Dad on the farm, in comparison I never worked as hard on my worst day in the Army.

Best time of my life: Soldiering.

Most embarrassing moment: Frankly, so many none stick out!

What I value in my friends: Camaraderie. Good story to explain. A fellow WMA alum was in hospice a couple years back outside Kansas City. WMA alum gathered, set up a rotation of guys to visit him, another bunch from St. Louis got other alum in from Illinois & Indiana, drove across Missouri to participate. The hospice staff asked: “Who are you guys? We’ve never ever seen support of a patient like this. What is it? Why?” Answer: “We went school together 50+ years ago, been friends since.” Response: “Never seen anything like this, told my kids about you all.” One more — We Kansas City WMA alumni hold a monthly luncheon in western Missouri to this day. 3rd Saturday of the month, you got an affiliation of any kind with WMA, join us.

My greatest fear: Dying by falling, scares me to think about it on the way down.

I hope I never have to: See above. Drowning too…

I’ve never been able to: Eat with chopsticks. Served in Asia many years. Nope, can’t do it!

If I won the lottery: It’d be a miracle, I don’t dabble in it. If I did, I’d probably drop dead soon thereafter due to shock.

My dream trip would be: To travel once around the globe. Guess if I won the lottery, I’d have the cash. Frankly I’ve lived in and visited so many places (most nice, some not so) I’m hard passed for anything other than what I wrote-round the world just once.

Hobbies: Reading, writing, baseball, football (high school & college for the latter, pro football is OK. Go KNHS Panthers, Mizzou, Chiefs and Royals!!! Oh, yeah on Minutemen and Minutewomen. Mustn’t forget our LHS kids. Aren’t kids sports programs great here in Lexington? YES!

Favorite music: Old 50’s, 60’s, 70’s rock, country and pop. Willie Nelson, etc, local Beam and Eads-kudos to Perry and Brian for a great show on a patio at one of our local restaurants or the Lex.

Favorite movie: Any with John Wayne. Old classic movies…” Yes, dear I know they make movies in color now.”

Favorite drink: Strong, I mean strong bold black coffee.

Favorite snack: Salty stuff, cheese, the snack trays of ham, cheese & crackers amongst others.

Favorite candy: Cherry Mash, made in MO!

Future goal: Lazy now but I’d like to publish a book. Suppose if I travel around the world I’d best take notes…

Which person do you admire most: My Dad. He worked hard to give us kids a college education, something he never had. Too, our Mayor Tom Hughes, who’s serving our city because he wants to, doing a good good job, and helping our community get better.

Advice to your younger self: Probably good advice for younger folks even today, set a goal, grab for the stars, follow your heart, follow and learn from good people, emulate them, it’s cool to change change your goals, plan a clear path ahead and follow it. Grab for the stars! Get going…

Words to live by: “I’m fine. Hope all my peeps are fine. I’m gonna be fine. We’re all gonna be fine.” So I say on social media.