Jean E. Matthews

Jean E. Matthews died on September 21, 2022, at her home in Groveport OH. She was 96 years beautiful. Jean was born in East Liverpool, Ohio, on December 22, 1925, to Jean Wilson Arkward and Byard W. Arkward. Her family worked its way through the Great Depression, and eventually settled in the Shenango Valley of Pennsylvania, where Jean graduated from Sharon High School in 1943. Jean wasn’t born into wealth. But she was born with the wealth of a great mind, a multitude of talents, a strong sense of family, and a powerfully strong disposition. She was preceded in death by: her brothers, Byard W. Arkward, Jr., and Ted Arkward, and her sister, Beryl Arkward Ervin. In her later years, she missed them just as much as when each of them died. “We were wild when we were kids,” she said. “We were raised in some hard times, but we had some good times, too.” Jean attributed her strength to her mother, Jean, and her disposition to her father, Byard. Jean’s academic achievements include her graduations from: in 1948, Howard University, B.S.M.; in 1967, Sharon General Hospital School of Nursing, R.N., and in 1979, Westminster College, M.Ed. And after attending Howard University, she returned to Sharon, PA and taught piano, voice and dance at the Carver Center in Farrell. From her marriage to Edward (Jake) M. Cooper, Jean was blessed with three children, Lynette (Ford), Kimberley (Brooks), and Edward M. Cooper, Jr. After Jake’s death, Jean eventually married James M. Matthews. She was predeceased by both, as well as by her daughter, Kim. Among her many achievements were her acceptance into Who’s Who in American Nursing in 1986. Jean worked as a nursing instructor at Sharon General Hospital for ten years, before becoming the assistant director of nursing at St. Paul Homes in Greenville PA, from which she retired in 1987. Jean was an active member of the NAACP, the Shenango Valley Chorale, and Ruth A.M.E. Zion Church in Sharon. Jean leaves her children, seven grandchildren (one deceased), ten great-grandchildren, and several great-great-grandchildren. She will be loved and greatly missed by many cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends. In lieu of flowers, Jean’s family requests that people give to their own favorite charities in her name, plant flowers and trees in the spring, and love one another.

“My mother shed her protective love down around me and without knowing why, people sensed that I had value.”- Maya Angelou