Donald Kavon "Chic" Matthews Sr., who served with the Baltimore City Police Department for more than five decades, died of cardiac arrest June 3 at Good Samaritan Hospital. He was 80 and lived in the Fairmount section of West Baltimore.
Born in Baltimore, he was the son of Edward B. Matthews and Edna Lindsay Matthews. He grew up near Druid Hill Park and was a 1953 Carver Vocational Technical High School graduate. He earned a bachelor's degree at Loyola University Maryland in 1982. He also studied at the Johns Hopkins University and at Morgan State University. He had been in the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps.
He joined the Baltimore City Police Department in June 1957 and was assigned to the detective bureau in the Central District. He was in a plainclothes unit. He later worked in the Northeast District and the Northwestern District.
He retired on a medical disability in 1987 when his legs were amputated after an auto accident. He returned to the department as a civilian employee and worked at the Central Police Headquarters on retirement benefits. He retired a second time in 2013.
He enjoyed reading, sketching and painting. He was a devotee of Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday.
Services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at Christian Life Church, 6605 Liberty Road in Randallstown.
Survivors include his wife of 57 years, the former Valerie Renee Blackwell; three sons, Donald K. Matthews Jr., Darien K. Matthews and Damian K. Matthews; two brothers, Wendell D. Garland and Edward Vernard "Mo" Matthews; six sisters, Sylvia C. Butler, Audrea C. Matthews, Beverly A. Jones, Eyvonne B. Sinclair, Ursula M. Pratt and Zelda E. Matthews, all of Baltimore; 13 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. A daughter, Monique Matthews Moaney, died in 2011. Another daughter, Jeri Adrienne Gbangbalasa, died in 2003.