‘Roving Optimist’ Delivers Humor At Hospital

For two days a week for the last 27 years, John Matsch has quietly done his job delivering the mail at the Veterans Hospital in north Spokane, all the while avoiding any recognition.

When the grateful staff wanted to honor him, they had to wait for him to come by on his rounds to present him with an award.

In order to celebrate his birthday, they tricked him into coming into the directors office, where the staff sang “Happy Birthday.”

Matsch is 96, and he intends to keep volunteering at the hospital “as long as I can stay on my feet,” he says.

“I haven’t missed an assignment in 27 years. It’s a habit.”

Matsch, who never married, served in the Navy as a machinists mate in both World Wars. He retired from his work as a traveling salesman in 1952. He says he volunteers at the hospital as a way to stay busy.

“For a volunteer, I’ve never seen such enthusiasm,” says security officer Al Benninghoven.

Associate director Ronald Porzio also has nothing but praise for Matsch. “It’s worth a million dollars to have a roving optimist in the medical center,” he says. “He is a cherished asset here.”

Matsch says the focus should go on the hospital and the job it does, not on him. “It’s very efficient and people try to take care of as many people as they can as quick as they can,” he says. “The VA does a pretty good job with the veterans.”

As he takes a visitor on a tour to show off the hospital, it is apparent that he knows most of the people walking the halls. He greets most by name, even if they are not staff members. “After you’re here a while, you get to know some of the patients,” Matsch says.

Near the end of the tour, Matsch taps on the glass of the information booth and waves to woman inside, who stops him and gives him a card and a plate of Christmas treats. “See how nice they are to me?” he says.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo