William “Bill” Matthews

Yorktown, VA — William “Bill” Matthews, 91, passed away peacefully at Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News, the morning of May 29th, following a serious bacterial infection.
He is preceded in death by his beloved wife of 56 years, Adeline, his parents James “Frank” and Ruth and brothers John “Jack” and James “Jim”. He is survived by his son James “Jim,” also of Yorktown. He is also survived by his niece, Cathy Dudak, and her daughter Stephanie Bell (husband Stewart) of Fallon, NV, and other friends in Hampton Roads and in Boston.
Bill grew up in the Boston area and earned a BS from Tufts University and an MS from Northeastern University, both in mechanical engineering. Bill became a resident of Yorktown in 1993, when he was transferred to the civilian army research group at NASA. Bill worked as a mechanical engineer, first at the Army Materials Technology Laboratory (MTL) in Watertown, Massachusetts, and then with the Army group at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton. He specialized in fracture and fatigue analysis. While at NASA, one of his major projects was the fatigue testing of Army helicopter rotor parts in need of quality testing, where he worked to validate that parts had a fatigue life consistent with their design. Jazz music was a passion of Bill’s, and he collected over 2,000 jazz records and CDs over his lifetime. He particularly enjoyed Big Band jazz from the 1920s through the 1940s. When he was more physically able, he loved going on nature walks, both in Hampton Roads and back in Massachusetts. His son fondly remembers the nature hikes to wildlife sanctuaries throughout the Boston area. Bill also engaged himself with current events, reading history books, and conversing on a wide variety of topics. He was a big sports fan and enjoyed watching and following professional sports, especially cheering for Boston teams. Over the last 2.5 years, Bill was a resident of the assisted living community at Harmony on the Peninsula in Yorktown.
A viewing will be held on Thursday, June 5th, starting at 9:00 AM at Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Church in Yorktown, followed by a funeral mass at 10:00 AM. Interment will follow at 12:30 PM at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Norfolk. Arrangements by Amory Funeral Home, Grafton, Va.