Sherman “George” Matthews
1951-2021
It breaks our hearts to share that Sherman “George”
Matthews passed away on May 22, 2021 at South Shore Regional Hospital.
He suffered from cancer which caused several strokes. A celebration of
life will be held when gatherings are allowed.
George was nearly born on George’s Island, where
his parents and grandparents lived at the time. His grandfather,
Victor, was the lighthouse keeper. His mother, Eileen, quickly took a
boat to Pier 21 and gave birth to him at the Halifax Infirmary on
January 10, 1951. Surprisingly, he was not named after the
island, but after his father, Sherman, and his mother’s
foster father, George.
His parents soon moved to South Woodside in Dartmouth. George
has two younger siblings, Judy and Victor, who he fearlessly led,
along with other neighbourhood kids, into the woods to play. He showed
an early interest in being handy with metal and engines, learning from
his father. His family regularly visited their grandparents on
George’s Island. George attended Prince Andrew High School
where he was Vice President of the Rifle Club. He also was a great
pitcher, later passing along his baseball skills to his
children.
George was always handy and when he was just 16 years old he
built a log cabin the woods near Russell Lake with his best friend
Wayne. He fondly referred to the cabin as their “drinking
fort”. The site of this cabin can still be seen from
Neil’s Trail in Russell Lake West.
One of George’s first jobs was welding metal
containers. He attended NSCC and studied electronics technology, after
which he was employed repairing x-Ray machines at the Victoria General
Hospital.
It was at NSCC where met the love of his life,
Anne. She had a British upbringing and she said “Give me
a ring sometime”, which meant to call her, but he took that to
mean an actual ring so they married in 1971. George and Anne were
inseparable and made a great team, each with their own unique gifts
that complemented and supported one another.
They were both passionate about photography. George was
self-taught and had his own business in the 1970s called Three Fathom
Harbour photography, with a focus on ocean scenery. He took hundreds
of thousands of photos in his lifetime, preserving many great memories
for his family and friends. Just to put the quantity of photos into
perspective, one time he took over 700 pictures of grapes at a
winery.
George’s pride and joy were his three girls: Jane,
Rachel, and Julie. He set high expectations for his daughters. He
taught them about independence, entrepreneurship, and a mindset of
curiosity. He proudly moulded them into fellow nerds with many hours
of Star Trek and Star Wars, as well as providing them with an Apple
IIe computer to play with in 1983. He always knew more about
technology than his children and grandchildren and was happy to help
solve any computer or phone issue.
George’s passion was Apple computers. He knew Apple
was cool before everyone else did and opened his own business,
Matthews Microcomputer Services in 1983, which operated out of his
home and then in Burnside. He repaired Apples and eventually PCs, for
a great variety of customers, including Dalhousie University, NSLC,
Doctors Nova Scotia and the Halifax Regional School Board. He employed
his wife and daughters to help with the business and eventually
non-family members who were special to him including John, Mark and
Dave (to name a few).
Using self-taught skills, George designed and built a custom
home for his family at 9 Locks Road in Dartmouth in
the early 1980s. It was a unique home that was 30-40 years ahead of
its time with solar panels, solar hot water, passive solar, and a 200+
square foot indoor greenhouse that grew enough vegetables to feed his
family and more. The solar house was featured in the newspaper on
several occasions. George went on to become the Chairman of
Solar Nova Scotia.
In the 80s, George drew media attention again with an Apple
computer he programmed himself that spoke aloud at 9 Locks
Road. This system was well ahead of its time (roughly 35 years before
home management systems like it were available). It was a full alarm
system as well as home management system that told us many things
including when someone was at the front door, the temperature of his
propagation cases, etc. When mail arrived it said “Master, you
have a delivery”. Even the family dog, Scooter,
understood the computer when it said “beam tripped east” or
“west” as he knew that meant someone was walking along
either side of the house. George even set up a rotating video
camera to capture neighbourhood mischief!
After the girls graduated and left home, George and Anne
moved to Markham, Ontario in 2000 for 10 years where George worked for
OpenText. He retired in Pleasantville, NS, in his dream home with a
view of the LaHave River and the yacht club. George and Anne made many
great memories sailing the Ariana, bringing their friends and family
with them. George was the Rear Admiral at the yacht club and
programmed a system to track the mooring field and installed solar
powered buoys. George enjoyed camping and being outdoors. He was his
own travel agent, planning elaborate trips for he and Anne to explore
Europe, Canada and the United States.
George was a fine woodworker, which was another self-taught
skill. He designed and built beautiful furniture for his family that
will be passed down for many generations, including dining room
tables, hope chests, living room tables, and bedroom furniture. His
abilities extended to mechanics, often fixing cars, campers, and
machines. He was our real life “MacGyver” and enjoyed
helping friends and neighbours fix various things and never gave up
until he found a solution.
He was a gifted coder and spent hundreds of hours coding in
his last months of his life. His last code was for a home management
system that controls all lights, the garage door, irrigation system
(with custom watering based on weather forecast adjusted for actual
rainfall), preheating beds at night, etc. This is all voice and touch
controlled from his phone and watch. His family thinks this is amazing
accomplishment for a 70 year old struggling with cancer. His daughter
Jane, also a programmer, will continue to develop his last
code.
George was known for his beautiful red hair, which was
inherited by several of his grandchildren and will continue to remind
the family of him for generations to come. He had a great
sense of humour and was always making people laugh with his dry witty
comments, even in the most serious situations. He
would probably think this obituary is too long, but he was so
eccentric and interesting it couldn’t be any
shorter!
George was loved dearly by his wife, daughters and
grandchildren, family and friends. He is survived by his wife, Anne,
mother, Eileen, sister Judy (Danny), brother Victor (Wanda), children
Jane (Shane), Rachel (Craig), and Julie (Lorris Jason), and
grandchildren, Alec, Lauren, Gina, Brooklyn, Brycen, Lia, Hallie, and
Rowan.
Thank you to the nurses and Dr. Anne Chaisson for your
support during his final weeks.
If anyone is wondering what they can do to honour George, his
family believes he would appreciate those grieving him to honour his
memory by learning something new. His life is a great example of
self-teaching and he would tell you it’s ok to make a
mistake and never give up!
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Sherman George Matthews 19512021..
Death notice for the town of: Wileville, Province: Nova Scotia