Dr. Spencer Mathews: As Rewarding A Life As I Could Have Hoped For
Written by Amanda Mathis
As Converse said goodbye to 2024, the campus also bid farewell to a beloved colleague and retired faculty member, Dr. Spencer Mathews, Jr. He passed peacefully surrounded by family on December 10, 2024, at the age of 85. Mathews is survived by his son Blaik, daughter Amberin, former wife Doris, partner Suellen, and brothers Scott and Floyd.
With a life built on service and education, Mathews tremendously impacted the experimental and developmental psychology field and Converse University and served as Converse’s Athletic Director from 1982 to 1991. He began his career in January 1967 and taught psychology until his retirement in August 2004. A professor skilled in more ways than one, he made a lasting impact on the students as he served as department chair from 1974 through 1999.
Mathews found additional time to volunteer for the South Carolina Psychological Association, serving for one term as the association Secretary and then as President. Additionally, he was a valued member of the Spartanburg Regional Hospital Institutional Review Board. An athlete, Spencer loved sailing and enjoyed racing and volunteering with sailing clubs on Lake Norman in North Carolina and Lake Hartwell in Georgia. He served as Commodore and long-time Membership Chairman of the Western Carolina Sailing Club on Lake Hartwell.
“Considered an aficionado, Mathews won the South Carolina state chess championship in 1969. He also won in 1964 against Bobby Fischer.”
He also was passionate about chess. Considered an aficionado, Mathews won the South Carolina state chess championship in 1969. He also won in 1964 against Bobby Fischer and, in 1989 and 1990, was the organizer of the U.S. Women’s Chess Championships in Spartanburg.
Despite his considerable workload and volunteer commitments, he found time to mentor his peers during his nearly four decades on campus. A dedicated educator and psychologist, Dr. Mathews’ colleagues in the Department of Social Sciences, Dr. Janet R. LeFrancois and Dr. Monica McCoy, tell a fuller story of his work and impact on the field, his students, and those who had the opportunity to work with him as his kindness made him a favorite on campus.
“I first met Dr. Spencer Mathews in 1997 when I interviewed at Converse,” remembered McCoy. “I was immediately struck by his intelligence, his charm, and his gracious manner. When he made me the job offer, I was eager to accept and grateful to work with him. As a colleague, Spencer was amazing. He was committed, passionate, and careful.”
Mathews gained expertise that he brought back to South Carolina during his 1997 sabbatical at UCLA with the Lovaas team for Behavioral Early Intervention for Children with Autism. That experience led to a course at Converse that he developed to train intervention therapists, working with approximately 20 children and their families in the Upstate region between 1998 and 2007.
LeFrancois, one of Mathews’ former Converse students, remembers him as a great teacher before he became her major advisor and mentor. “With his sharp eye and precise, analytical thinking, he could see through many behavioral issues that others were unable to see. Spencer was a great professor – interesting, clear, and funny. He oversaw my first conference presentation, recommended me for graduate school, and alerted me to a faculty position opening up in the Psychology Department at Converse,” she reflected. “I was hired for that position and have been here at Converse ever since.”
Mathews felt a debt of gratitude toward his students and reflected that teaching at Converse was “as rewarding a life as I could have hoped for.” In 2023, he was recognized with the Honorary Alumnus Award and reflected, “It pleased me upon my retirement to acknowledge those debts, and it pleases me on this occasion to be able to express my gratitude again.”
Remembered for valuing traditions, being a loyal friend, and exhibiting endless patience, McCoy remembered that “if Spencer said something was true, you knew it was. He was also a man who never spoke ill of others. Spencer was a skilled teacher who was passionate about educating all the students in his courses. He was also a lifelong learner who never stopped wanting to know more. While I was very sorry to see Spencer retire (for selfish reasons!), I loved watching him embrace an active, full life of family, sailing, and chess. He made retirement look fun. I mourn his passing, but I take comfort in knowing that he lived a full, productive life filled with kindness.”
LeFrancois agreed. “Needless to say, he was critical to my career and many others,” she said. “Perhaps most of all, though, Spencer was a man of character – patient, allowing others to go ahead of himself and be true to his word. May he rest in peace.”
The Mathews family has donated three of the guitars that Mathews enjoyed playing to Converse University’s Petrie School of Music. They are now in the hands of our Music Therapy students.
Dr. Mathews’ service will be on Saturday, February 1, 2025. at 1pm at St. Matthew’s Church. Full details and information can be found here, and memorial donations may be sent to a nonprofit he supported, the St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church Food Pantry.
Top Image: Dr. Mathews receives the Converse University Alumni Association Honorary Alumnus Award from President Boone Hopkins