Students, others recall Rock Hill art teacher with ‘heart of gold’

James “Jimmie” Matthews taught art in Rock Hill schools for more than 31 years.

But to students and others, he gave so much more.

“He didn’t treat us like students; he treated us like family,” said Laurel Hilton, an Old Pointe Elementary School art teacher.

The course of Hilton’s life was changed after she met Matthews when she was 14, and he “encouraged me along that path.”

“He invited us into his home for get-togethers. He picked kids up and took them places,” said Hilton, who studied art under Matthews at Rock Hill High. “I think he even bailed a few out of jail.”

Matthews, who Hilton said “had a heart of gold,” died early Friday. Former students and many colleagues at Ebinport Elementary School, where Matthews was teaching and where his wife, Marti Matthews, is a first-grade teacher, were inconsolable Friday.

Friends, family members and colleagues said they had trouble capturing the essence of Matthews in words.

“How can we possibly write a few paragraphs about how much this man has had an impact on every person that he has ever known?” said sister-in-law Joanne Mauldin.

After graduating from Rock Hill High School in 1978, Matthews earned bachelor of visual arts and master of education degrees from Winthrop University. Mauldin and Matthews’ brother-in-law, Jimmy McWaters, said Matthews started teaching in Indian Land schools but spent most of his career at schools across the Rock Hill district.

“He had such a talent for art,” Mauldin said. “And every child that ever had him loved him, because not only was he a great art teacher, but he was fun, and he had a great sense of humor.”

Mauldin recalled Matthews telling her how he once saved a young boy from choking during breakfast in the cafeteria at Independence Elementary.

Afterward, Matthews went back to his classroom and said a large, tall man came to his door. Matthews told Mauldin that he grabbed a chair and stood on it, “so I could look at him eye to eye, and that man hugged Jimmy and said, ‘Thank you for saving my son’s life.’ ”

Matthews “was the type of teacher that people went back to visit after they had graduated,” Hilton said. “He made that lasting impression. He just cared.”

The profound impression Matthews made on Hilton’s life was not unique, she said.

“He was like that with every kid in the high school class; I don’t know how he did it,” she said. “It took a piece of him. He divided himself up into so many hearts.”

Matthews owned rental property, McWaters said, but he was an unusually forgiving landlord.

“Sometimes people could not make the rental payment, and he’d forgive them,” he said. “He’s so tenderhearted and caring. He just did so much for anybody who came across his path. He cared more about them many times than himself.”

Kim Ham, an art teacher at Mount Holly Elementary School in Rock Hill, worked with Matthews on numerous projects for the Arts Council of York County. His own art included drawings of campus buildings with school mascots, Ham said.

“A lot of people have them from Winthrop or Carolina or Clemson,” she said. “He would do these beautiful architectural drawings and have prints made.

“His reputation is far and wide as an artist and educator, but he was a great friend, too.”

Debra Heintz, executive director of the arts council, said Matthews helped out with art festivals and student art shows and competitions.

“It was really his personality, he was so easy to work with, and so helpful,” Heintz said. “He brought out the best in people.”

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Students, others recall Rock Hill art teacher with ‘heart of gold’."