Family farm meant world to Virginia Matthews, 79, of Winder

By Shane Blatt

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Virginia Matthews had a special place in her heart for the family farm in Winder.

The 50-acre farm — with its two houses, three barns, acre-size pond, pool, large pastures and rolling hills — was a retreat of sorts, a place that her family, 12 in all, could gather.

“She used to always say, ‘No matter what happens, we’ve got the farm,’” grandson Chris Griffith said. “I think her saying that really embodied the peace the farm created for her, that no matter what happened, there was a place for her and her family.”

Mrs. Matthews and her husband, Jack, bought the Barrow County land in the mid-’60s. The price? $7,000.

Everything about the farm, from the upkeep to the way the land was laid, was Mrs. Matthews’ vision, daughter Linda Matthews Murray said.

“It’s special because of my mom,” Mrs. Murray said. “It’s special because it was her thing. She just loved it so.”

Virginia Acree Matthews, 79, of Winder, died Tuesday of cardiac arrest at the farm. The funeral service will be at 1 p.m. today at Peachtree Corners Presbyterian Church. A.S. Turner & Sons funeral home is in charge of arrangements.

Born in 1930 in Union Point, young Matthews graduated from Union Point High School in 1947. After a brief stint at what was then Georgia State Women’s College in Milledgeville, she moved to Decatur.

In 1948, she and her husband opened a tiny grocery store on Main Street in Tucker. The couple owned and operated Matthews Supermarket, with its last location at Lawrenceville Highway and Fellowship Road, for 50 years.

Mrs. Murray said growing up, the family would work six days a week at the store. Then on Sundays, they would all head to the farm to relax.

“It was kind of a mini-vacation place to us,” Mrs. Murray said.

But the family worked there, too.

They would clean out the pond, build rock walls, even erect a split-rail fence from trees on the land.

Grandson Griffith was down at the farm weekly while attending the University of Georgia from 2003-2006.

He said his grandmother always had farm improvement projects going on. When they took breaks, he recalled, the two sat on the porch overlooking the lake, drinking tea and chatting about school and work.

“She always liked to keep up with what was going on in my life,” Mr. Griffith said.

About seven years ago, Mrs. Matthews and her husband moved to the farm permanently to retire.

Mr. Griffith likens the farm to Henry David Thoreau’s novel “Walden,” in which the American author sought an objective understanding of society by isolating himself from it.

“I just kind of related that to what the farm meant to me,” he said. “It was a place I could go, not to find solitude, but to find peace. It was Walden.”

Coincidentally, the farm is on Walden Road.

In addition to daughter Linda Matthews Murray and grandson Chris Griffith, Mrs. Matthews is survived by her husband, Jack E. Matthews of Winder; sons Thomas Steven Matthews of Lawrenceville, Richard Emerson Matthews of Winder and Marc Garrett Matthews of Winder; and three other grandchildren.