Lee Mather (1918-2015)
CORONADO Ancient religious custom dictates singing to the dying. And so it was as 96-year-old Lee Mather took his last breath, his family surrounded him, singing and reading scripture.
It wasn’t just his immediate family. It was his wife, his son and daughters; his priest; grandchildren and great grandchildren. It was a joyous passing, fitting for the man who dedicated his entire life to bringing joy to others.
An early shot from the life of Lee Mather, child on the left. He was the oldest of what would be 12 children.
Jacob Leroy “Lee” Mather died of natural causes March 20 just three weeks from his 97th birthday. During his long life he became one of the most familiar and respected businessmen in Coronado as founder of Lee Mather Co., Realtors a business that continues to this day as Coronado’s oldest real estate company, 62 years after its founding.
In his long career, Lee had introduced the joy of owning a new home to hundreds of families; through his business and personally trained agents that number grew to thousands.
In a rare instance where the entire Mather family is gathered, Lee is seen (top row right) with his parents and siblings.
Lee was born in a two-room sod house to second-generation Kansan farmers Jacob Pence Mather and Susie Jane Bigbee. He was the first born of 12 children. His parents owned a 160-acre farm on the western Kansas prairie – two miles west and eight miles south of Grinnell, Kansas. His great grandmother was Cherokee Indian, but in that day that wasn’t something you spoke of, said Lee.
Every day Lee awoke before the sun to a list of duties that included milking eight cows and running the milk through a separator to get the cream out of it.
Yeoman Typist, Lee Mather.
The school Lee attended was two miles away. “I rode a horse to school,” Lee often said. “I rode bareback because we couldn’t afford a saddle.”
It was a one-room, one teacher prairie schoolhouse made of sod. His graduating class was a mere 15 children.
During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt implemented the WPA that included the National Youth Administration (1935-1939). It was here a young Lee Mather found work. “They paid me $10 a month, which was pretty good back then,” said Lee.
Most of the jobs he performed seemed destined to groom him for life as a farmer as his father and grandfather were before him. But Lee also learned how to type. Before long he could type 125 words a minute, and that meant employment options.
Trading in his Navy uniform for a tailored suit, Lee Mather wasted no time in setting up business in his new home of Coronado.
Despite the challenges of the Great Depression, Lee’s hard work began to pay off. He soon bought his first car, a Model A with a rumble seat. Now his working horizons increased greatly.
In 1941 America went to war. Lee, like so many other young men, wanted to do his part. The Army tried to draft him, but Lee discovered they only paid $21 a month. The Navy, he found out, paid $60 a month, and so his choice was made.
Lee went into the Navy as a yeoman typist. As he would say many times later, “My typing got me everyplace.” He served on troop transports in the Pacific Theater and saw enemy fire. Once a Japanese plane strafed his ship. A man 12 feet from Lee was killed on the spot.
After four years in the Navy Lee found himself stationed in Coronado. He married in 1943 and the couple had a son, Steve. They bought a Palmer House on E Avenue for $6,000. “They were the cutting edge home at that time,” said Lee. “They were 1,000 square feet and had three bedrooms and one bath. There were 126 of them built in Coronado at the time.”
The photo of the July Fourth Parade in the 1950s captures the Art Deco facade of Lee Mather Company, which still operates today as the oldest Realtor on Coronado Island (since 1953). Photo courtesy Coronado Public Library.
As a civilian now, with a young family, there was no choice between staying in Coronado and returning to Kansas. Lee began to seek employment on the island. His first job was at Strand Realty, in 1946. His first lesson? “The customer always comes first.” Lee’s firm belief was, from day one, that the customer was the expert on what they wanted. He listened to them.
Lee Mather quickly made a name for himself as an honest, get-it-done Realtor. In 1953 he started Lee Mather Company at 944 Orange Avenue. At one time he had six offices and more than 60 agents throughout Coronado and San Diego. The original Art Deco building in Coronado still stands today, and the business continues with Lee’s youngest daughter Debbie as one of the three partners. There are Realtors of every generation who learned their craft at Lee Mather Company.
Lee’s son Steve Mather (front row left) is seen here with the entire clan of “O’Tooles” his father married into. Today they are all as close as ever, bonded by the enormous love Lee and Phyllis bestowed upon them.
In 1957 Lee met a woman looking for a home in Coronado. Phyllis O’Toole, a Navy widow with five children, had been persuaded by friends that Coronado was the best place to live and raise her family. Her husband had died in a failed night landing on the USS Coral Sea.
Phyllis, like many other Navy widows with children at the time, found solace and support among each other. They were known affectionately as “The Sacred Heart Widows.”
Lee and Phyllis Mather remained “young lovers” their entire lives.
As Lee recalled the meeting, “I don’t think I paid any attention to her when we first met.” As Phyllis recalled the meeting, “He nearly dropped dead when he met me.”
Lee was now divorced and had one child; Phyllis had five aged 4-12. They would often joke that Lee married, “the widow O’Toole with her five children,” yet, theirs was a match made in heaven.
Lee attended events hosted or sponsored by Lee Mather Co., Realtors up until the very end. Here he is seen at Coronado Yacht Club, with Phyllis, at the annual Pumpkin Carving event hosted by their daughter Debbie. Photo by Joe Ditler.
“My father had ideas no one had ever seen before in little Coronado,” said son Steve Mather. “He was an excellent photographer and did his own offset printing. He constructed a darkroom in the rear of his office. Lee became the first to carpet an office building; he had the first fax machine; the first slideshow presentation of a property. Long before cell phones Lee outfitted his staff with two-way radios.”
Lee was also the first in the field of real estate to own a computer. “When I walked in and saw that Wang computer filling the entire room I just couldn’t believe it,” recalled Phyllis. “All I could think,” she laughed, “was, there goes my mink coat, my swimming pool, my trip to Europe,’ but that was Lee. There has never been a man so concerned about the welfare of his customers or so dedicated to giving them the best and most complete service available,” she said.
For Lee’s 95th birthday, family, friends, co-workers and many who had worked with Lee over the decades, turned out to wish him well and join in the festivities.
Lee Mather set the bar for kindness and professionalism in the real estate business both in Coronado and San Diego.
Lee attended Sacred Heart Church of Coronado. He also supported St. Joseph’s Cathedral of San Diego, and Nuestra Señora de Fatima in Rosarito, Baja California. He was a lifelong supporter of Coronado Little League and various other causes in Coronado.
The ever generous, ever courageous friend for life – Lee Mather.
Lee Mather is predeceased by his first wife, Edith Fox, and survived by his wife of 58 years, Phyllis Mather of Coronado; brother Buford Mather of Philadelphia; sisters Ruth Hays of Oakley, Kansas; and Marge Wilson, Evelyn Fitzroy and Wilma Taylor of Heston, Kansas.
He is also survived by his son, the Rev. Stephen John Mather of Coronado and Imperial Beach; and daughters Molly Gregoire (Mike) of Rancho Santa Fe; Kathleen Gaylord (Fritz) of Coronado; Gwyneth Bent of Coronado; and Debbie Riddle (Tom) also of Coronado.
Lee loved his job; his family; his friends; his church; Mexico; but his relationship with his dogs was legendary.
Lee and Phyllis have been blessed with nine grandchildren and ten great grandchildren, including one in the oven.
A memorial service will be held in the spacious Crown Room of the Hotel del Coronado, 1 p.m., Thursday, April 9, followed by a celebration of life for Lee Mather, also at the Hotel del Coronado. Complimentary self-parking is available at Hotel Del.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations “In Memory of Lee Mather” be made to the Coronado Hospital Foundation, 250 Prospect Place, Coronado, CA 92118 (619-876-2238).
