Harry Mathis has never failed a challenge, hard work or what could have seemed impossible.
From an early age, Mathis took the reins of everything he did – and set up this responsibility to become a captain in the American navy and the high commander of a nuclear submarine.
After retiring from the navy, Mathis turned his attention to his adopted hometown of San Diego, where he joined community planning groups and civic organizations before being elected to a four -year pair at the San Diego municipal council.
After having served the maximum authorized time on the largest director of the city, Mathis volunteered for his community. He joined the Metropolitan Transit System Board, serving three four -year -old mandates and helping to transform the San Diego cart in that it is today.
He accepted an appointment to the local agency training committee, the dark but vital board of directors responsible for the establishment of jurisdictional boundaries between the mashup of government agencies providing services in the county of San Diego.
And even after concluding his most visible public service, he advised and approved those who followed his political steps.
Harry Mathis, the son of the County of Sonoma, who devoted his life to the service of his country and his compatriots and his women, died on March 31 at the Memorial Scripps Hospital. He was 92 years old.
“St. Francis said” by giving, we receive “and Harry was a supplier,” said Father Tom Garrison of the episcopal church of Good Samaritan, the parish of City Mathis University co-founded before even building his chapel.
“He had this old -fashioned attitude,” said Garrison. “He could see the overview of what was going to happen, and he was able to follow.”
The son of a Bank director of San Francisco, Mathis was born in Petaluma in 1933, four years before the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge to the traffic and cars traveling in and outside the city.
Before graduating from George Washington High School, he was recruited in the Marine Corps with several classmates. But his parents insisted that he went to university instead. The Korean War broke out shortly after and two of his classmates were killed.
Mathis has credited a series of fortuitous meetings for his life victories sequence, including a passing conversation with a secondary advisor who encouraged him to apply for a program of naval officers who included a university of his choice.
He obtained a baccalaureate from UC Berkeley in political science and embarked on his marine career.
Mathis was sent to Newport News, Virginia, in the fall of 1961, pending the completion of repairs to the submarine to which he had been assigned, when his roommates insisted that he attended the Nave Army Football match with a blind meeting.
He was immediately struck by the young fifth year professor Mary McGalen. But Mathis worked on the nights, so that they can only go to dates when a friend agreed to take one of Mathis night.
“Things have progressed and in the six months, we got married,” said Mary Mathis, wife of Mathis over 60. “He had a very special way about him.”
The couple moved across the country and the globe in two -year intervals linked to their naval assignments. Among other places, they lived in South Carolina, Connecticut, Hawaii, Washington, DC and Rota, Spain.
They moved to San Diego in 1970 and settled in University City, where the family stayed for decades.
In addition to his public service, faith has always been important for Mathis, said his wife. In University City, they were one of the families of origin who created and developed the parish they have attended for decades.
“The church was important for us wherever we moved,” said Mary Mathis. “It was a constant in our lives, so we have always established (ourselves) with a church at each station he had.”
Mathis spent 28 years with the navy before taking a position as a training officer at the San Onofre nuclear generation station. He also began to volunteer on various councils and commissions of the city.
In the 1980s, a lawyer suggested Mathis Run for the municipal council and offered his support. Mathis lost this campaign, but he won the headquarters four years later – beating Peter Navarro, who lost several other campaigns before joining the Trump administration.
Mathis was without opposition during the search for re -election.
Representative Scott Peters, D-San Diego, who succeeded Mathis in the municipal council and helped to tip the panel to democratic control for the first time in decades, said his predecessor was quick to welcome him to the Town Hall.
“He was only chic,” said the Congress member. “After being elected, he sat with me and talked about how much he appreciated his service – and how much he wanted me to succeed.”
Peters also credited Mathis to have reshaped the district that he also served for several conditions.
“He (Mathis) has laid the foundations for great developments in North City, in the northern parts of Carmel Valley and Del on,” he said. “He wanted communities to have a decent quantity of parks and other amenities.”
Mathis is survived by his 62 -year -old wife, Mary Mathis de San Diego; Two girls, Laura Mathis de San Diego and Mary Zimmer from Aptos, California; And five grandchildren.
The services are scheduled for June 7 at the Episcopal Church of Good Samaritan.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
