Philip Matthews

Philip Matthews, 81, was born Philip Matthew Penas on November 2, 1925, on the Willow Grove Farm south and east of Pisek, in Rushford Township of Walsh County in North Dakota. His parents were Jay Thomas Penas and Mary Alice Schufletowski Penas.The family had farmed near Pisek and then farmed later near Park River, North Dakota. In the fall of 1929, the family moved to Canada to farm with two of his mother's brothers, Frank and Albert Schufletowski, near Ravenscrap in Saskatchewan. The family returned to North Dakota in 1930 and began renting a farm south of Park River that soon became their home place. Clinton D. Lord of Park River was the land agent at the time for Sinclair Lewis, the author, who owned the farm. Jay Penas bought the farm from Sinclair Lewis in 1944, and the farm from that time was called Pleasant Groves Farm.Philip went to grade school and high school in Park River. He graduated from the Walsh County Agricultural School in Park River in 1943. During World War II Philip enlisted in the United States Army on January 29, 1944, and he served in ordnance with the U.S. Seventh Army in France and Germany. After World War II ended, he attended Biarritz American University in France in 1946. The special college was opened for American service personnel to take college courses while awaiting their return to the United States. Philip was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army as a technical sergeant on June 21, 1946. Philip attended Jamestown College in North Dakota from 1947 – 1950 and was elected a Representative Jimmy and the editor of the Collegian, the campus newspaper. He graduated from Jamestown College with a bachelor's degree in June 1950. While attending Jamestown College he worked for the Stutsman County Record, a weekly newspaper, in Jamestown. He attended the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in New York, N.Y., and graduated with a Master of Science degree in journalism in June 1952. After graduating from Columbia, he was employed by John D. Paulson, the editor of the Fargo Forum in North Dakota, as a reporter. In 1957 he was a reporter of the Fargo Forum when the newspaper was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting in covering the June 1957 tornado that swept through Fargo. The newspaper won the Pulitzer Prize the next year, in 1958. Philip worked in the news department of the Fargo Forum for 40 years and his service included reporting, photography and editing. He had served as city editor, night editor and North Dakota government and political editor and then during his last 12 years as business editor. In February 1963 he changed his legal name from Philip Matthew Penas to Philip Matthews in Cass County District Court in Fargo. In 1957 Philip was awarded a Reid Foundation Fellowship by the Ogden Reid family of the New York Herald Tribune for a study of special education in Europe during 1958. In the education field, Philip taught journalism classes at North Dakota State University in Fargo while he was working as night editor of the Fargo Forum. He was appointed business editor of the Fargo Forum in 1976 after serving for 10 years covering government and politics in North Dakota. In 1977 he was awarded the James C. Acton Award for his journalistic work by the Eagles Lodge of Fargo. In 1982 he received the Service Award from the Greater North Dakota Association "for his continuing excellence in reporting the business news." In 1983 he received the Media Advocate of the Year Award in North Dakota from the U.S. Small Business Administration. In 1990 Mayor Jon G. Lindgren of Fargo proclaimed December 18, 1990, as Philip Matthews Day in Fargo in recognition of "his many contributions to our city" and for "his talented writing contributions to the Forum." Philip retired from the Fargo Forum on January 2, 1991. After his retirement he continued to work as free-lance writer and as an ombudsman for the state of North Dakota. At the time of this death, Philip was a resident of Bethany Homes in Fargo. Philip, having never married, is survived by sister Clara Budish, brothers, Daniel and Glenn Penas, all of Park River, ND; sister Jennifer Morris of Jamestown, ND; brother Clinton Carole Matthews of Milwaukee, OR; brother Clark Marcella Penas of Benbrook, TX; and sister Carrie Mrs. Harlan Larson of Lompoc, CA. Also survived by brother-in-law, Jack Johnson, Billings, MT, and sister-in-law Doris Penas, Carrington, ND, and several nieces and nephews. Philip was preceded in death by his parents, an infant sister, brother Lawrence Penas, and sister Vera Mrs. Jack Johnson.