The congregation of Vernon Temple African Methodist Episcopal Church, Southampton gathered with Dr Dorothy Matthews-Paynter, one of the senior mothers of the church, and her extended family to celebrate the life and witness of her oldest child, Walter Frederick Lewis Matthews.

Dr Dorothy, aged 92, is well-known, and widely travelled as the doyenne of Bermuda hairdressers and beauticians.

Walter was born September 9, 1939 and died rather suddenly July 4, 2014.

He was educated at Ord Road School (Paget Primary) Sandys Secondary School, Temple University and Howard University.

Later he attended Cornel University fulfilling his passion for working and socialising with people.

He loved music became a recognised pianist and guitarist, he figured heavily in the ‘birth’ of the Bermuda Strollers, which he managed for many years.

Walter was a pioneer in many respects. returning home as a young man from the States, he worked for Cooper and Lines, qualified later as a Chartered Accountant.

Later he became involved in real estate, migrated thirty years ago to the US where he qualified as a Certified General Appraiser.

He was President and CEO of Walter L Matthews and Associates, one of the biggest appraisal companies in the State of Georgia.

Walter was eulogised by the family pastor, Rev Dr Leonard Santucci, JP, as a great ambassador for Bermuda; devoted son, sibling, father, grandfather, uncle and family member.

He embraced everyone with an open heart, open arms and was also well known for opening his home to host and entertain family and friends whilst living in the United States.

Walter was well known as a businessman locally and in the United States.

In one of his first local endeavours, T-shirts Unlimited, the saying “I Survived the Bermuda Triangle” was one of his original markings and is still worn by many to this day.

Walter was a great ambassador for Bermuda in the entertainment industry.

As a child, his first formal means of employment was as a ‘roll boy’, at age eleven at the Elbow Beach Hotel.

This exposed him to the hospitality industry which he grew to love.

He was always selling Bermuda wherever he went. He enjoyed exposing tourists to the beauty and culture of the Islands.

Dr Santucci, in his eulogy entitled The Show Must Go On, took his text from 2 Timothy 4:6-8.

The theme of the eulogy, he noted, was a reflection of a conversation Walter had with his mother the night of his death as they were preparing to host her 49th annual charity fundraiser.

Due to his health challenges, Dr Dorothy had offered to cancel the event so that she could devote her time to taking care of him, to which he responded: “No, the show must go on.”

Dr Santucci, referring to the example of the Apostle Paul, noted that Walter had a similar testimony of having fought a good fight, finishing his course and having kept the faith.

Walter’s daughters Julie Matthews-Borchardt and Polly Tatum and brother Ian are much like their father, Bermuda ambassadors on the foreign field. They all returned home for the funeral.

Julie lives and works in Dubai as a broadcaster. Her husband is an eminent hotelier there.

They returned ‘home for the funeral with their seven month-old twins, a boy and girl.

Polly is a lawyer in Worcester, Massachusetts. She made international headlines a year ago when she became the first black President of the city’s century old Bar Association.

Brother Ian is a computer technologist; and also father of twins.

They did not accompany him from their home in Vancouver.