Harold was born to Miles and Grace Mathews, on November 15, 1919, in Mullen, Nebraska. At a young age he moved to San Luis Obispo, Ca., and he worked at San Luis Cyclery for 19 years. In 1953, he fulfilled his life dream and moved to Merced, Ca., and purchased the Harley Davidson Agency. He operated his Harley Davidson Sales and Service for ten years In Merced. He then was offered the agency, in Fresno, Ca. He set up the Mathews Harley Davidson Store at 548 Blackstone, in Fresno, which is today's location.



Harold was the oldest Harley Dealer in Northern Ca., being In business for 55 years. He held the number of the American Motorcycle Association #404 and in 1948, he was the Grand National Hillclimb Champion.
He is a life member of the Elks Lodge #8439, the Fresno Masonic Lodge #247 Scottish Rite Bodies, 32nd Degree Mason and has been a member of the Tehran Clowns since 1961, and a life member of the Harley Owners Group and Fresno county H.O.G.


Harold married his high school sweetheart, Eva Mazza June 16, 1941.
He leaves his wife Eva of 67 years; son, Sam; daughter-in-law Cara; granddaughters, Melanie, Melissa and her husband Mike, Melinda and her husband Jarred, and Malorie. He also leaves behind great-granddaughters, Maycie, and Colie; and his sisters Bette and Helen.


A Memorial Service will be held at the Masonic Lodge, #247, 3444 E. Shields Ave, Fresno on Saturday, February 21, 2009, at 2:00p.m.


Those are the basics, but 'Hal' Mathews was one of those H-D dealers that you'd be proud to know, he kept a gigantic stash of Harley & British bikes parts & if you were looking for a part to restore your bike he'd let you come & root through the attic & basement of his shop to find it, but he'd never stick you on the proce for the piece. His shop holds a lot of his racing history as well, two of his hill climbers, a 45 side valve & a Knucklehead ar both by the office window, not all chromed & custom painted, they both look just as basic & functional as they were when he rode them in competition.
And when the factory started making every dealership look like some kind of high end boutique Harold said "No" & the factory had to knuckle under. The dealership is still a fairly small building, with bikes crowding most of the floorspace & if you see the shop at night you'd think he didn't have that many to sell, well the rest of the stable is kept in the service area at night & brought out to cover the whole side of the building during business hours.
Hal went in for knee surgery a few years ago & while in the hospital he contracted a staph infection that made it to where the wound would never really close so he was only down at the shop occasionally instead of every day like he had been for the 39 years that I knew him.


Eva, his wife, of course has been handling the day to day along with his kids & like always, has a friendly word for most everyone that comes in, I've even met folks from as far away as Florida & Virginia who got their first Harley from Mathews & have asked me to send along their regards to Harold & Eva as they made getting either your first Harley, or your next a pleasure. I still have a 73 Police Special that I bought from Hal back in 1977 when he was still the only H-D dealer in Fresno & it's the only non altered police bike left from that time. Right now it's in civilian livery but all the sheet metal, lights, siren & radio can be swapped out in a few hours time & then it's unit 370 again.


I'm going to miss you Hal, you were always a good man & a good friend & I'm proud to have known you, I'll catch up with you down the road sometime later on............


Ron Graham
Fresno, CA.
Feb. 19, 2009

 

I remember when so many of the old dealers were like this man! My sympathies to his family and friends; as well as his customers who had a real treasure! Here's hoping his family carries on his values in his memory.

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