Mickey Mathews, age 66, of Plano, Texas, passed away February 7, 2013, in Plano. Mickey was born July 8, 1946, in Helena, Montana and was adopted shortly thereafter by William and Bertha (Wrolstad) Mathews. He married Deborah Burch Turner on March 8, 1992, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Mickey grew up in Great Falls, Montana where he completed his primary and secondary education. He graduated from Montana State University on a football scholarship after which he played in the AFL for the Denver Broncos. Mickey coached football and taught at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas where he also earned two master degrees. Later, while working for Brown-Forman Corporation, Mickey graduated with honors from Pepperdine University’s Executive MBA Program.
After coaching, Mickey worked briefly for the Mathews Answering Service in Great Falls, Montana with his mother. Mickey was in sales for the Brown-Forman Corporation for over twenty-seven years -- starting out in Montana and ending up in Louisville, KY with stints in Albuquerque, San Francisco, Richmond, and Philadelphia. He won many sales awards at Brown-Forman, finishing his career with the establishment of the company’s national accounts organization and calling on their largest retail customers. In his retirement, he umpired softball for the Plano Sports Association and the Softball Players Association and enjoyed fly fishing and traveling. Mickey experienced much success throughout his education and his business career, but the riches that he valued most were the many friendships he made along the way.
He is survived by his wife, Debbie Mathews of Plano, Texas; sons, Jon Mathews of Spokane, Washington, Todd Mathews of Missoula, Montana, and Kyle Turner of Dallas, Texas; and daughter, Elise Turner of Wilmington, Delaware. He was preceded in death by his parents.
Mickey’s ashes will be scattered in his favorite fishing hole at a small family gathering this summer. The family requests that memorials, in lieu of flowers, be made to the Montana State University-Bobcat Football, Bobcat Club, Montana State University, P.O. Box 173270, Bozeman, Montana 59717-3270.