Dew Prier Mathews passed away on September 10, 2013 at Golden Valley Hospital, Clinton, MO where she had been admitted on September 8, 2013 suffering from pneumonia.
Dew was born in community of Ohio, MO on October 31, 1922. She was the youngest of nine children born to Samuel Edward Prier and Delia (Hutton) Prier. She moved to Osceola in 1944 and lived her entire life in St Clair County, MO, living in the same residence for 60 years.
On September 20, 1944, Dew was united in marriage to Frank Mathews, son of John and DeRinda Wood Mathews. Frank died in 1954, leaving her with three small children under eight years of age, which she reared by herself. Having only an eighth-grade education herself, she valued education and made sure they all went to college.
As most women of that generation, she stayed home with her children while they were in school and was always willing to help the teachers with school projects, whether it be sewing a United Nations Flag for a school assembly, making angel wings for the annual Christmas pageant, being a room mother, or sawing out cutting boards for a Cub Scout project. She also taught knitting classes for the St Clair County Extension Center and worked for OEO, Unitog, and Millie Wright Draperies. She was a hard-working woman and when she was not outside mowing grass or weeding flower beds, she was in the house working on a new quilt.
Dew was predeceased by her parents, five brothers: Carl E., Taylor B., Ralph E., Reno A. (“Jiggs”), Dorman C., and three sisters: (Vallah L. Warner, Dorothy F. Cain, and Mildred G. Sims). She is survived by her three children: Mike of Osceola, MO, Dee of Independence, MO, and Earlyene Pendergrass of Langlois, OR; two grandchildren: Susan Goodwin of Osceola, MO and David Pritchard of Eugene, OR; special friend, Rosemary Frankenfield of Roscoe, MO; sister-in-law, Ruby Ballard Prier of Odessa, MO; several nieces; and her little cat, Abby.
Leave a Reply