Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Good Neighbor: Mathisons say their deeds ‘nothing really’


Millwood residents Tom and Penny Mathison, were nominated as Good Neighbors.
 (Steve Christilaw / The Spokesman-Review)
Steve Christilaw Correspondent

Like most good neighbors, Penny and Tom Mathison don’t feel they’re doing anything special when they help out the people around them.

“We’re really not,” Penny protested. “And we don’t do anything for the recognition. If we see someone that needs a little help, or if we see something in the neighborhood that needs to be done, we just do it. That’s all there is to it.”

Penny Mathison regularly helps care for an elderly neighbor. She’s the one neighbors call if they need a ride to the doctor or to the hospital. Tom has been known to buy paint to mend a neighbor’s fence or entertain a neighbor’s young son while they were away.

“Oh, that’s nothing, really,” Penny laughs. “It’s better than sitting around not doing anything. But I don’t think anything of it.”

“They really do a lot, and I just wonder if it’s legal for a relative to nominate someone who isn’t technically a neighbor,” asked Barbara Elliott Miller, Penny’s aunt. “They do so much for people and I really think they should be recognized for it.

“Penny, my niece, babysits for her grandkids and great-grandkids all the time. She cared for her mother – my sister – when she was dying of cancer, and she looked after me when I was in the hospital last year.”

Aw shucks, Penny Mathison still insists.

“We live in Millwood,” she explained. “We have a great set of neighbors here and they’re wonderful people. We’ve only lived her for about 13 years, but they made us feel as though we’d lived here all our lives. They’re all getting older now and I enjoy helping them. I’ve always enjoyed being around older people, so it’s very easy for me to help them out when they need something or someone.”

When a neighbor recently became ill, Penny Mathison stepped in and helped out.

“She’s an older lady and she really doesn’t have any family around,” she explained. “When she got sick, I took her to the doctor and I took her to the hospital for her operation Monday. I went to the airport to pick up her sister when she flew in to be with her, and then took Norma home when she got out of the hospital.”

The babysitting job is nearing an end, Penny Mathison said.

“I was taking care of my great-granddaughter five days a week,” she explained. “But now she’s old enough to attend a Montessori school a few days a week, so I just take care of her one day a week now.

“My babysitting days are just about over, thankfully. My grandkids are getting old enough that they can drive themselves to and from school, or they can drive each other to and from school. I don’t have to be a chauffer any more. And I just have the one granddaughter.”

That doesn’t mean the retired couple plans to be idle.

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll find things to keep busy,” Penny said. “There’s always something going on.”