Matthew recalls 25 years at Oberlin

In the past 25 years, Gene Matthews has seen every renovation, every ground-breaking ceremony for every new building, and every practical joke played by the facility and maintenance workers on campus. Now he's taking everything he learned to Case Western Reserve University.

Matthews, director of Facilities and Maintenance, was offered a job directing the physical plant at Case Western Reserve on Feb. 26. He accepted the offer the next day. According to Matthews, this is a big step to take at this point in his life. "This is the perfect time for a change. It is a great personal and professional opportunity," he said.

In his 25 years here, Matthews has seen many changes on campus. "When I came here we didn't even have computers. Everything was on paper," he said.

Another change Matthews has seen is the addition of lights to parking lots and Tappan Square. "I can remember when there were only eight lamp posts in Tappan Square," he said.

More recently, Matthews has been involved in include addressing the issue of deferred maintenance, or what he calls "fixing what is broken." He cited Harkness as one example of a building that has accumulated many maintenance problems that should have been fixed years ago.

In his efforts to make sure everything on campus is in good working order, he said, he has had the opportunity to replace broken items with more energy-efficient technology. Because of his knowledge of the Oberlin campus and energy-efficient methods, Matthews was involved in the planning of the new Environmental Studies building.

Matthews said one question he asked himself when applying for the Case Western job was whether he was good enough. "Is that culmination of education and experience worth that much that another institution would want me?" he said.

The experience of being a maintenance worker, as well as doing other jobs in the physical plant which led up to his directing position, was what Case Western Reserve was interested in, Matthews said.

He has great plans for his future at Case Western. He said, "Now I'm going to take my collective experiences to their problems so I can offer alternatives and help them find solutions."

Matthews said he has many people to thank for their inspiration and support in his decision. "I started out here 25 years ago and Oberlin has been wonderful to me. I had many people here who have been supportive of me to go to the next level," he said.

"The hardest part of this move is saying goodbye to my friends and co-workers," Matthews said.

He added that some of his best memories are of the practical jokes he and his colleagues used to play on each other. Included in the list of pranks were greasing his colleagues' steering wheels and driving down the street squirting students after having adjusted the windshield cleaner jets.

Matthews is very excited about the future and said he looks fondly upon his 25 years at Oberlin. "It's like God dropped this opportunity in my lap and said 'Here ya go, Gene,'" he said.