Photo by Savannah Schmidt.
June Mathews, the former Trussville Chamber of Commerce executive director, returns to her passion for literature with new personal projects including writing and service at the Trussville Public Library.
As 2024 draws to a close, we’re highlighting some of the top newsmakers in Trussville from this year as part of our Newsmaker of the Year series. Today, we’re announcing one of our finalists: June Matthews.
Mathews embodies the spirit of service in Trussville. After stepping down from her position at the chamber of commerce, Mathews still continues to contribute to the community by serving on the library board, the Trussville Noon Rotary Club and the Trussville Historical Society. That’s why we recognize Mathews as a finalist for newsmaker of the year.
Revisit our feature on Matthews from October here.
As a fifth grader, June Mathews wasn’t thrilled about moving to Trussville.
“When Mama and Daddy were talking about moving out here, we thought, ‘Good grief, y'all are moving us to the sticks?’ because it was so far out,” she remembered.
“We moved a grand total of 10 miles from Huffman, and I thought we were going to the moon,” she said with a laugh. “But of course, now I see that differently and think they made a great decision to bring us out to Trussville and raise us as relatively decent citizens."
Over the years, Mathews has watched Trussville grow into a larger, vibrant community. She spent the first phase of her career working as a paralegal, which she did through the 1990s, and later became a key figure as the executive director of the Trussville Chamber of Commerce. Today, few people in the city are unfamiliar with her contributions.
Mathews had volunteered with the Trussville Chamber prior to stepping up to fill the role of executive director in 2019, which she held until 2023. She had her work cut out for her from the start, especially once the pandemic hit.
"We had gallons of hand sanitizer sitting on tables at the first festival that we had after COVID began,” she recalled. "We had to learn to adapt a lot of the things we were doing.”
Since retiring from the chamber last year, Mathews has devoted more of her time to writing, which was previously a side endeavor. She writes for several publications and companies, as well as grants. Her favorite assignments are feature stories about people, “because people are happy when you write about them, for the most part.”
There are all kinds of ways to serve your city. And a little bit of serving from everybody makes a big difference.
JUNE MATHEWS
Mathews may have retired from working full-time, but she’s as active in the community as ever. She has served on the library board for 18 years, meeting monthly with fellow board members to set policy. She’s also involved in the Trussville Noon Rotary Club and the Trussville Historical Society. Mathews encourages everyone to get involved and contribute to the good of the community in some way.
“There are all kinds of ways to serve your city,” she said. “And a little bit of serving from everybody makes a big difference.”
