On October 8, 1957, The Seattle Times reports that Meredith Mathews (1919-1992) of Oklahoma City has been named executive secretary of the East Madison branch of the Greater Seattle Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). The branch, which opened in 1936, is the Seattle YMCA's first serving a predominantly African American community. Mathews will head the East Madison YMCA for eight years, during which he will expand services, memberships, and programs and lead a successful campaign to build a new facility that will open in 1965. Mathews will go on to lead the YMCA's Pacific Region. In 1993, the East Madison branch will be renamed the Meredith Mathews East Madison YMCA.
Leading the Branch, Then the Region
Meredith Mathews was an African American friend to youth whose name became synonymous with the YMCA. He was born in Thomaston, Georgia, and received his high school education in Columbus, Ohio. He earned a B.S. degree from Wilberforce University in Ohio and pursued graduate studies at Ohio State University. Mathews began working with the YMCA in 1937 as director of the Spring Street YMCA in Columbus and continued his professional career with the organization in Oklahoma City and McAlester, Oklahoma.
Mathews came to Seattle in October 1957 as executive secretary of the East Madison YMCA branch. According to the October 8 Seattle Times article announcing his appointment, Mathews, his wife Henrietta Mathews, and their two sons, Meredith Jr. and Christopher, were to arrive in Seattle on October 21. At the East Madison branch, Mathews used the fundraising and business-management skills he had developed in Oklahoma to expand services, membership, and programs. In 1965, following a successful capital fund campaign under his leadership that gained strong support from the community, a new building for the branch was opened.
Shortly after the new East Madison branch was dedicated in April 1965, Mathews was appointed associate executive of the Pacific Northwest Area Council of YMCAs. Six years later in 1971 he was named regional executive of the Pacific Region, overseeing 126 YMCA facilities across 11 states. Mathews retired from the executive position in 1976, after 39 years of service to the YMCA.
Honored Role Model
Meredith Mathews was loyal not only to family and friends, but also to the causes he saw as just. His friends included Edwin T. Pratt (1930-1969) of the Seattle Urban League and social worker Randolph Carter, and Mathews served on the boards of the Urban League and the Randolph Carter Center. He was a Mason and a member of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, and prior to his death he was the oldest living member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity in the Seattle area. Hundreds of people considered him a role model and an inspiration to them when they were children.
Meredith Mathews died on March 19, 1992. In December 1993 the YMCA of Greater Seattle Board of Directors renamed the East Madison branch the Meredith Mathews East Madison YMCA in recognition of Mathews's outstanding contribution to the organization and the community. The branch became the first YMCA of Greater Seattle facility to be named for an individual. In 1995 Mathews was named to the YMCA Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.
