Thomas Allen Matthews, age 65, of Springfield, MO passed away from a long term brain disease on Sunday, March 1st at the Table Rock Health Care Facility. He was born in Springfield to Faust (deceased) and E. Rebecca (Becky) Jamison Matthews, age 96, on May 2, 1949. Tom is survived by wife, Shirley (nee Benson); brother Dan and his wife Nancy; son Shawn and his wife Juli; son Kevin and his wife Anne, and their son Charlie, and a large extended family. He is preceded in death by his father, sister Donna, twin brother Tim and loving dog "Bugs".

Tom graduated from Glendale High School in 1967 and received a B.S. in Geology (1982) from Southwest Missouri State University. As a veteran of the Vietnam War, he served in the U.S. Navy and was honorably discharged in 1972. Tom was a construction geologist in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area. He was an avid gem and mineral collector, loved to sing and play the guitar and was in musical groups and shows from high school to starring roles in community theatre in Elk City, OK. As an artist, he was invited to display his scrimshaw at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC as part of the annual American Folklife Festival.

Visitation will be held Wednesday, March 4, 2015, from 5-7 P.M., at Klingner-Cope Family Funeral Home at the Rivermonte Chapel, 4500 S. Lone Pine, Springfield, MO. Services will be held at 1 P.M., Thursday, March 5, 2015, at the First Christian Church, 443 N. Main St., Republic, MO.

Because of his lifelong love of science, exploration and fascination with River Bluff Cave, the family requests that donations be made to the Missouri Institute of Natural Science (http://www.monatsci.org), in lieu of flowers.