On October 5, 2007 an unsung educator and geographical pathfinder, died. His name was James Matthai.  Hazel knew him as husband. To Paul and Claudia, he was called father. And then there are the grandchildren and great grandchildren, each with their own unique memories of this kind, and yet firm spirit.

His life had been simple yet brilliant. He was born in Nashville in 1926. Later he served two years in the Navy during World War II. Matthai received his bachelor’s degree from Peabody-Vanderbilt, master’s degree from Syracuse, PhD from Columbia (NYC).

Dr. Matthai spent two years (1965-67) in Kabul, Afghanistan under the direction of Columbia to establish a new university in Kabul.

James and I crossed paths in the fall of 1967, two years after I had moved from Clinton, Kentucky and into Hart Hall, Murray State University. I was the first in my family to attend college. Having just graduated from Hickman County High School, I was eager to test the ways of the big world;

On a brisk autumn day in late September, 1967, I sat in a small cramped office filled with books on geography and walls covered with maps of the world. The light of the afternoon streaming past and over his shoulders, Professor and Dr. James Matthai looked me over before he asked the hard question, “Tell me why I should hire you as a student worker for this department?”

For over 30 minutes, we talked of my dreams about what geography and history meant to a young 20 year old man, trying to capture every second of college life. He was kind to take the time out of his very busy day running the geography department, deal with the battles of the administration and the budget, write scholar papers, forge a new department (geography) on campus, worry about staff raises, and having adequate space for them, just to spent some time with a sophomore who had dreams about a career in this very young science program called geography.

The Geography Department in those days consisted of three strong personalities: Dr. James Matthai, W.A. Franklin, and David Irwin.

This was a time of wonderment for those of us concerned about the events of the world: early days of the Viet Nam War, concerns about pollution and the damage to the environment by actions of mankind, geopolitical turns in the Cold War with Communist Russia. For me, the thread that held all of these events in place was geography.  

Dr. James Matthai stood by those of us who pushed the boundaries of power and status quo. His leadership style, according to W.A. Franklin, was “be bold and go forth.” Franklin said that James would hire good people and then get out of the way so that they could work their magic.

Two examples of this type of leadership took place in September of 1968. W.A. Franklin, as a young professor had an opportunity to purchase every topographic map of Kentucky. He had to act quickly and he charged the purchase back to the department. His boss, Dr. Matthai was away for the summer.

At the same time, I was becoming aware of the job opportunities of a new professional discipline called urban and regional planning. While all my professors were gone that summer of 1968, I contacted 5,000 urban and regional planning agencies around the world to donate copies of their master plans and other data useful to know about their part of the world. By the time school had started, we had received over 3,500 master plans from all parts of the planet. The cost was just over $500 dollars in postage.

During the first week of school in the fall semester of 1968, President Sparks invited Dr. James Matthai to come over to his office and try to explain why the university should pay for a very large postage and map bill.

Matthai stood his ground with the president and the school budget team. And, to his credit, he convinced them that now, with a new urban and planning library and a new topographic map library, MSU should also build shelves for them.

With the new map library and the planning library, Dr. James Matthai, with the skills of W.A. Franklin, later that year convinced President Sparks that MSU needed to create a new program major: Urban and Regional Planning. This would later lead to the creation of the Mid America Remote Sensing Center to be established at MSU. Both of these projects became dear to his heart       

James was passionate about conservation and the damage we were doing as society to the environment. His second love was teaching Physical Geography 125. This was the most basic course in the department. It was about land forms and physical geography. However, James made it come alive for non-geographers. Often his classes were standing room only as he integrated the headlines form the newspapers about what was going on with the environmental movement across America.

Dr. James Matthai was a leader of men. He led by being bold and forging new pathways for those behind to follow. He had no fear the future with his quick intellect and fierce spirit of right and wrong.

After, some 30 years, I look back and realize how much of my life was molded by the team of dreamers and fighters and MSU in the late 1960’s who sought to bring geographical thinking into my view of an ever expanding world.

To W.A. Franklin and David Irwin I call you friends, teachers and molders of young minds.

To Dr. James Matthai, I thank you for being a part of my life and teaching me how the actions of our society have a price to be paid upon the environment.

Dr. James Matthai, 1926 to 2007.  Farewell Pathfinder!