Walter Passes
Walter Matheny passed away in June 1977 at the age of 66. After Walter’s death, the Bernardsville News ran a tribute, from which the following is taken:
“When he retired in 1975 as the guiding force behind one of the country’s first and foremost effective private school-hospitals for the youthful handicapped, Mr. Matheny was renowned among rehabilitation professionals around the country and even the world. But it was to the children who needed him and to whom he reached out with untiring generosity that he may well have meant the most… One after another, they say he was a “very special person,” someone “you could count on,” someone “who is always there.” The area around Peapack-Gladstone is filled with people who can tell stories of something Mr. Matheny did when they needed help… Michael Cooper, owner of the Gladstone Market, remembers that any child, not necessarily local, could go up to the school and Mr. Matheny would see them, find out their problem, and call in one of his consultants, free, to figure out what could be done. “You’ll never find another man like him. He was one in a million.”
