And most endearing is her ability to listen, comprehend and respond with grace and ease. Two of Mary’s friends, Nancy Sadler, and Fleetwood Bradshaw, agree. Some of the words they used to describe Mary are loyal, sincere, encouraging, and trustworthy. Nancy adds, “But most importantly, she has great charisma. She is good at motivating people to do their best, whether in a fun adventure or an important civic project. And she’s mentored so many younger lawyers helping them to become better in their professions.”

Rob Matthews has drifted through life with a fair wind and following sea kind of attitude. With salt water in his veins, this sea dog also had the disciplined constitution to make two careers out of his respect of the ocean. And he is still going at it. Rob was born in 1946 in Waterville, Kansas. His mother and father were United States Marines. For three of the first six years of Rob’s life, he lived with his grandmother while his father fought in Korea. In first grade, his dad was transferred to Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii, and the family moved. He was a little boy in heaven. Already an outdoorsman, Rob remembers, “There was a swamp in the back of our house. I felt right at home.”

He made his first outrigger in Hawaii as a child with 4×8 galvanized roofing. Rob and his family moved to NC in base housing at Terawa Terrace at Camp Lejeune. “There was another nice swamp there. Again, I felt right at home,” smiles Rob. The last transfer was to Beaufort where Rob’s dad was assigned to reopen the Marine Corps Air Station. They moved to Albergotti Creek, then settled on Harrington Street when his dad retired from the Marine Corps in 1959. Rob attended Beaufort Elementary, Beaufort Junior High and Beaufort High Schools.

Like many boys growing up in Beaufort in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, the river was an integral part of their childhood and teenage years. He duck hunted on the Wimbee, fished in Port Royal Sound, and hung out with friends on beaches, islands, and sandbars around Beaufort. Rob sold crabs to the Blue Channel Corporation in Port Royal, one the major blue crab canneries in the United States. He drove the 19-foot cypress bateau, while others hauled the traps in the crab-rich waters of Beaufort. He made $100 per week. 

“I played football for a year and quit in the 10th grade. I was making too much money!” After high school, Rob attended the University of South Carolina and majored in business and finance. It is also where he met his bride, Joan. After graduating, they came back to Beaufort and later had two sons, Rob III and Christopher. Shortly thereafter, in 1976, Rob began what would be a 22-year fishing career in Barbados. He worked on commercial fishing boats from ports of call in Brazil that travelled the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea to Barbados, Peru, and Brazil.

In 1979, Rob bought his first commercial fishing boat, a 65-foot long-line trawler. “I actually saved and transported about two hundred Cubans on that boat one time. I lost it to the government once too, but I got it back,” he grins. He was traveling back and forth from the US to the Caribbean and South America, fishing during the season and home on breaks. He sold the trawler in Chile and captained a 104-foot commercial boat from Denmark.

The trips back and forth to the US were becoming difficult as the fishing season never stopped, and Rob found the trade to be quite lucrative. His next boat was an 83-foot steel hull, hired an 8-man crew and fished for swordfish and tuna on four week-long trips to Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Brazil. He bought an apartment in Brazil and stayed for three years while Joan was home with the kids.
Rob has had his share of fishing stories. The good, the bad and the ugly. 

But there was one unforgettable incident that he dreamt about for years afterword. He and his crew were fishing about 150 miles off the shore of Dominica. They were cruising in a 120-foot boat when the gas bottle blew up. Thankfully, they were towing another boat and were able to get on for safety. The wind was blowing 25-30 knots, and they were terrified the boat would sink. They were scared for their lives. When the wind laid down, one of the crew members swam to other boat, managed to pull himself up in the hull and put the ladder down. The ordeal took an hour, which preceded another 2 hours of bailing water and trying to save the larger boat from sinking.

“It was a very stressful situation,” Rob recalls. They were successful and able to get to Dominica. To exasperate an already problematic situation, they were detained by immigration and given only water…no food. After many hours, Rob was finally able to pay for hotel rooms for everyone. They left for Granada the next morning. Rob paid everyone but himself, took a plane to Trinidad and finally home to the US.

Rob retired from fishing in 1998. In 2000 he bought the lot where he would eventually open his dream business, Matthews Marine. He opened his storefront, a 105,000 square foot showroom and shop, on Cecil Reynolds Road (intersection of Hwy 170 and Hwy 278) in 2002. The boat sales and service company evolved into a storage facility as well and now has over three hundred spaces for boats, trailers, and recreational vehicles. He also sold the lot next to the warehouse to Tractor Supply, which opened in 2014. So, what is next for Rob? “Well, I still have twelve acres behind the store to develop and some property on Hwy 462 as well. I guess I’m in the real estate business now,” he chuckles.

Rob has lived a charmed and blessed life…in Beaufort, in the Caribbean, in South America and now, back in Bluffton. “I’ve met a lot of great people along the way. Success for me is not all about money. It’s about being happy.” And really, that is all that matters in life, right? Rob and Joan Matthews live in Perrysburg, a community west of Hardeeville on the Savannah River. They have two sons, Rob III and Christopher who are both engineers in Florida.