Elmer Matter

Around the year 2000, Mac's grandchildren decided he must be a secret agent. After all, consider his accomplishments: ice skater, gymnast, expert backwoodsman and canoeist, private pilot, skier, SCUBA diver … and he collected knives. With his wife, Connie Somervell Matter, he travelled all over the world, from Patagonia to St. Petersburg, the Caribbean to Kenya, the Seychelles to Sydney to Papua to Peru. Supposedly they were touring and SCUBA diving, but who knows? They could have been on secret missions for the CIA. Mac was born in Duluth, Minnesota, on July 6, 1919, the only son of Willard and Jean Macdonald Matter, who were both active in civic affairs. Mac was president of the class of 1940 at Carleton College, then went to Harvard for his MBA. When WWII broke out, Mac spent several months with his dad (a contractor) helping to build the Alaska Highway. He then memorized the color vision charts and got into the Navy despite his color blindness. He was stationed in Sydney and Manila before returning to the U.S. in 1946. In 1948, Proctor and Gamble sent Mac to Pittsburgh for sales training. He met Connie Somervell at a picnic held by the University Club in Oakland. In 1949 Mac and Connie married, promptly moved away, and spent 20 odd years living all across the country. They finally returned to Pittsburgh in 1972 when Mac took a job as Vice President of Sales for Fisher Scientific. Mac retired in the mid-1980s, which is when he really got busy. A volunteer assignment with ARC Allegheny (now Achieva) led him to help found the Pittsburgh Sheltered Workshop Association. Later he became President of COMPRO, the operating company for ARC Allegheny. He served as Chairman of the Board of the Easter Seals Society of Western Pennsylvania, sat on the Board of Directors of the University Club and was a deacon at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church in Cranberry (now All Saints Anglican Church). He and Connie spent summers golfing at Wildwood Golf Club in Allison Park and winters traveling to many, many warm sunny places with good SCUBA diving. They gave up diving when Mac was 87 years old and instead began month-long trips around Central and South America with itineraries that were exhausting just to contemplate. After Connie passed away in 2011, Mac slowed down a bit, but he still managd to make it to his 75th college reunion in 2015. Mac will be fondly remembered and sorely missed by his children, Jean-Anne Matter (Allen Humphrey), Jamie Matter (Caryn), and Brad Matter (Holly); and grandchildren, Alex Humphrey, Brehon Humphrey (Phoenix Mandel), Elizabeth Matter and Arthur Matter; also by his cousin, Henry Roberts (Terry), of Duluth, Minnesota.