November 2003 IBEW Journal

Deceased

Richard Lythgoe

The IBEW is saddened to report the death September 13, 2003, of retired International Representative Richard Lythgoe, a 58-year member of the IBEW. He was 87 and has been retired since 1980.

Brother Lythgoe was born in Indiana, joined the IBEW in Illinois, was assigned to organizing drives in Michigan and Indiana and spent his last years in Montana.

He was initiated into Local 702, West Frankfort, Illinois, at the end of 1945 following his service in the Army during World War II. Two years later he became assistant business manager of Local 702 and he was regularly borrowed from that job to work on organizing drives in various states. He was appointed as an international representative on January 1, 1955.

In addition to his organizing work, Brother Lythgoe was a political activist in the strongest sense of that term. He counted one of his hobbies as "politics" and was a freelance writer on civil and political matters. He also served a term as president of Common Cause in Indiana and was active in local chapters of the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union and a variety of environmental associations.

The IBEW extends its deepest sympathy to his wife, Marjorie, two children—Karen Howard and Stephen Lythgoe—and his five grandchildren.

Deceased

Arthur G. Matthews

It deeply saddens the IBEW to announce that Arthur G. Matthews died September 24, 2003. Brother Matthews was 92 and served the Brotherhood as an international representative in Canada for 24 years before his retirement in 1976.

He was born in Oshawa, Ontario, and became a member of the IBEW Local 353 in Toronto in 1940 but the next year began four years of service with the Canadian Navy. When World War II ended he returned to Local 353, where he was elected to the Executive Board in 1947 and became vice president in 1948.

In 1951, before the American Federation of Labor merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations to form the AFL-CIO, Brother Matthews was recommended by the IBEW and appointed by the AFL to serve a term as its representative in Canada. Previously, he had served his local as a delegate to the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada.

In September 1952, he became an international representative, assigned by the IBEW first to assist members at Ontario Hydro. He was assigned to the vice president’s office in 1954 and served there for 22 years before his retirement in 1976.

Brother Matthews and his wife, Bernice, who preceded him in death, had two sons and two grandsons who became electricians. His son Donald is a retired from Local 353 and Patrick is retired from Local 105, Hamilton, Ontario, where two of his grandsons, Anthony and Joseph are also members. The IBEW extends its deepest sympathy to them and other family and friends.

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