Mathews, Ithel F.

Educator

Birth: July 30, 1872, Liberty, Trumbull County, Ohio
Death: September 24, 1955, Vienna, Trumbull County, Ohio
Burial: Vienna Township Cemetery, Vienna, Trumbull County, Ohio
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Ithel F. Mathews was a long-time teacher in Vienna, first in the Township's district schools and later at Vienna Centralized School. In 1962, after the Fowler and Vienna schools consolidated, the Vienna Centralized School building was renamed Mathews High School in memory of this individual's spirit and service. The consolidated school district now bears his name.

Mathews possessed a distinction that few teachers of Trumbull County could claim. He received a common school education. In 1890, at age 18, he began teaching in the Liberty Township schools. He moved to Vienna in 1901 after being hired to teach, at a monthly salary of $25, in Vienna School Number 4 and then at the Vienna Special School. When the one-room schoolhouse era ended he taught at Vienna Centralized School. In 1926 he taught fifth and sixth grade.[1] He was admitted to the bar in June 1911 but never practiced law.

Mathews was an exemplary Vienna citizen. He served as clerk of the Vienna Board of Education, as secretary of the Vienna Home Day Association, secretary-treasurer of the Vienna Township Parent-Teacher Association, was a member of the Vienna Presbyterian Church, and in 1933 was elected an honorary member of the Vienna High School Alumni Association.

Ithel married Marie Cunningham on June 23, 1915.  She was the daughter of Robert Cunningham and Elizabeth Bean.