In 1971, after his time as student and his service in the National Ocean Survey Officers Corp, Chris Mathewson began his teaching career at Texas A&M. His 40 + years as professor there generated countless leaders in AEG. Chris was much more than just a member of AEG.  He was active in the AEG Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Section which later evolved to the Texas Section. For the Texas Section, Chris served as an officer many times and as the faculty member of the Lone Star Student Chapter at Texas A&M. Chris always brought a van load or two of students to almost all of the quarterly Section meetings. For the overall Association, Chris served as President, Executive Director, and Editor of its peer-reviewed publication.  Many of Chris’ students followed in his footsteps, serving both AEG and the AEG Foundation as presidents and executive council members. The list is longer than I can list here. Look around today and you know many of them.

After his retirement from Texas A&M, Chris continued to educate through various Texas A&M Extension service courses, lecturing to a number of Geoscience Programs across the State of Texas on the importance of licensure.  At almost every annual AEG Meeting in the last decade, Chris gave a presentation on the status of licensure or an important issue that the membership should focus upon.  When it comes to a topic that Chris is passionate about, he was always relentless and extremely passionate.

Chris received awards not only as a professor but also from most organizations where he was involved. From the Association of Engineering and Environmental Geology he received the Floyd T. Johnston Service Award (1995), the Karl and Ruth Terzaghi Outstanding Mentor Award (2008), the Claire P Holdredge Award (for his textbook “Engineering Geology”). He was also awarded the Pete Henley Mentor Award from the AEG  Texas Section in 2007.  From the National Association of State Boards of Geology, he received the Charles R. Sherman Award in (2011) and the James Hutton Lifetime Service Award (2019).

In 2011, the Texas Section honored Chris by changing the name of the Texas Section Scholarship Fund, which it created in 2007, to the Christopher C Mathewson Scholarship.

Christopher C. Matthewson was so many things to so many different people. His legacy survives as memories for his spouse, family members, friends, students and peers. His entire career was spent as an advocate for the applied geosciences.  My deepest condolences to all that he impacted; Chris will be missed.

Bill Flanigan
President, AEG Foundation