Lillian Alvina Matthews

Alvina, age 89, passed away peacefully on July 31, 2026. She was a loving and dedicated daughter, wife, sister, aunt & friend.

She was born September 2, 1936, the third of four children of John Frederick Schlobohm III and Alvine Anna Kaiser in Houston, Texas. She was baptized and raised in the Lutheran faith that she carried with her throughout her life. Her grandfather, John Frederick Schlobohm II, helped build & found Trinity Lutheran Church, to which she was very proud of her heritage.

She had one son, William David Allen Jr, “Dave” who was her pride & joy, that was tragically taken from her way too soon. Dave loved working on cars and kept them in show room floor, immaculate condition. His favorite model was the Ford and loved keeping his mother’s Ford Thunderbird in tip top shape for her. Dave was an excellent artist and could draw blue print style of drawings of cars freehand. Dave was always there for his mother when he was not serving as a merchant marine.

Alvina had another love of her life – country music. In the 1960s & 70s, she moved to Nashville, TN to pursue her love of songwriting. She rubbed elbows with the best of them: Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, June Carter, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Emmy Lou Harris, Dolly Parton, Roy Acuff, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn & Crystal Gayle to name but a few. When Elvis tragically passed away, Lillian wrote a tribute song for him called “Memory of a King”. She was inducted into the Grande Ole Opry as a song writer & was very proud of the time spent & her accomplishments while there.

She relocated back to Texas with her son & continued her songwriting. She proudly sang in the Church & occasionally played the organ. She also helped several local artists & bands to try to find their breaks amongst the greats in country music.

Alvina is preceded in death by her parents, her older sister Florence Irene (Schlobohm) Whitman, her only brother John Louis Schlobohm, her son Dave Allen, husband Truman “Tommy” Matthews and her baby sister Cornelia Marie (Schlobohm) Wunderlich. She was the last of her generation & the oldest living female of the family.

She is survived by her nephews Chris D Whitman & Thomas V Whitman; niece Paula M Whitman; great nieces Angela M Taylor, Amber M Roe, Sumalee I (Whitman) Turner; great nephew Chris J Whitman; numerous cousins & friends.