Raymond Clifford Mathews, Sr., an engineer who worked for Humble Oil & Refining Company and Exxon Corporation, was born in Willow, Arkansas, on February 17, 1915, to Albert Edward Mathews and Eva Pearl Hudson Mathews and was the youngest son of seven siblings. Mathews was married to Betty Bunting Mathews and together they had two sons, Raymond C. Mathews, Jr., and Ronnie Mathews.
Humble Oil & Refining Company recruited Mathews at Texas A&M University, where he graduated in 1939 with a degree in mechanical engineering. He initially worked at the company’s Baytown Refinery, eventually working on the production of butyl rubber and high-octane aviation fuel, important contributions to the war effort. In 1942, he took leave from Humble and enlisted in the U.S. Army and was later assigned to the 435th Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA) Battalion, deploying to North Africa and Italy. Mathews returned to Humble after the war, working from the company’s headquarters in Houston.
Throughout his career, Mathews worked as a staff engineer, special projects engineer, and lastly as chief engineer for maintenance and construction for Humble’s Southwest Region, covering seven states. Much of his work involved designing service stations, developing the vapor recovery system used in filling tanker trucks, and other engineering assignments. One notable project had Mathews serving as the Special Projects Engineer for the Humble terminal at the Houston Intercontinental Airport (now George Bush Intercontinental Airport). Mathews retired from Humble in 1972 for health reasons, but returned as an independent engineer for Exxon, working on cathodic protection systems to prevent corrosion of underground fuel tanks. Mathews retired permanently in 1985.
Note: This biographical note is derived from “Raymond Clifford Mathews, Sr., Memorial Biography” prepared by Mathews’s eldest son, Raymond Mathews, Jr., with the assistance of his mother, Betty Mathews, his brother, Ronnie Mathews, and Mathews, Sr.’s co-workers and army friends, as an addition to his father’s papers.
From the guide to the Raymond C. Mathews, Sr. Papers 2005-235; 2006-037., 1924-1973, 2006, bulk 1950-1973, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)
