Fred and Karin Matthews celebrate golden wedding anniversary

Fred Sawyer Matthews and his wife Karin celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary.. The couple was married on Dec. 12, 1959 in Stuttgart, Germany where Fred met the former Karin Schrőter while serving in the U.S. Army.

After his service was complete, Fred returned with his bride to Apalachicola, where Fred was born and raised and attended Chapman High, where he was a graduate with the class of 1956.

He is the son of the late Dorothy Sawyer Matthews and the sister of Dorothy Rose Hodge of Niceville.

Karin and Fred then moved to Tallahassee and Fred earned his bachelor’s in teaching. They relocated to Key West in 1964 and have remained there ever since.

Mr. Matthews was a social studies teacher at Key West High School for 32 years and Mrs. Matthews worked as a banking teller and then officer in Key West for over 20 years.

The couple has two children, a son, Steve (Karen) Matthews who resides in Duluth, GA and a daughter, Monica (Jose) Santana who resides in New Tampa; and three grandsons, Alex Matthews, 10; Joey Santana, 7, and Robby Santana, 3.

As a celebration of their 50 years of marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Matthews took a two-week land tour/cruise to Alaska this past July.

Their children offer the following cheer to their parents:

Our family’s full of joy because

 You’re celebrating your 50th;

And as your kids, we want to say

As parents, you’re the "niftieth!"

On your golden anniversary,

We hope you have lots of fun.

 We’re happy for you, and for us, because

 In the parent lottery, we won!