PHOTO PROVIDED Flora V. Matthews was the first and only female prison warden for Lycoming County, leading the old Lycoming County Prison, shown here, on the corner of William and Third streets.

In her picture published in the April 3, 1963, edition of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, she is wearing a necklace made of pearls and a pair of horn-rimmed glasses and her hair is neatly coiffed. Two days prior to the publication date, on Wednesday, April 1, 1963, Flora Matthews, age 70, had received a temporary appointment as the first female warden of the Lycoming County Prison. She was the widow of warden Jacob F. Matthews, who had died the previous Thursday in their apartment at the prison.

In today’s society, that appointment would not be considered remarkable. However, in the 1960s, the post-World War II baby boom generation was in the midst of deep cultural changes which were altering the role of women in American society. Women were being bombarded with contradictory expectations and images about work and family. According to the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, as recently as the 1960s, most women were limited to certain fields: paid domestic work, nursing, teaching, and secretarial work. Women who worked in alternative fields often did not get credit for their work.

Flora was born on March 31, 1893, in Oregon Hill to John and Edith Hostrander. When she was 16, she began teaching in the one-room schoolhouse in Morris that she herself had attended. The selection process was a simple one: the smartest student in the school was hired! Flora taught for many years, mostly in one-room, eight-grade schoolhouses. She served North

Eldred for 10 years and later taught at English Center. She also attended Mansfield Normal School, then a college specifically to train teachers, now Commonwealth University – Mansfield.

At the time of the 1920 census, Flora was married to Jacob Matthews, and they had one child. Jacob Matthews was employed as a blacksmith at the McMullen blacksmith shop, which was located on Walnut Street between Third and Fourth Streets. When livery stables gave way to garages and service stations, Jake went to Detroit to learn automotive engineering.

Upon his return to Williamsport, Jake and Flora became restaurant operators for the New York Central Railroad. Flora worked alongside her husband at two locations — one in Avis and the other in Newberry –until 1936, when Jake successfully ran for the state legislature.

I am sure it was a big adjustment for Flora to become the wife of a public servant. After serving in the legislature for two regular terms and two special sessions, Jake became the Lycoming County Sheriff and then a County Commissioner. Jake served three terms as a County Commissioner.

At the time of the 1940 census, Flora was employed as a matron at the Lycoming County Jail, where she and Jake were required to live while he was sheriff. In the 1950 census, Flora was listed as an elementary school teacher living on Diamond Street in Newberry with her husband. In December of 1955, Flora and Jake retired from the political scene after almost 20 years of public service. They had two sons: Dr. Richard E. Matthews, who had a dental practice in Newberry, and Dr. John Matthews, who was living in Edinburg, Texas. Upon their retirement, Flora and Jake temporarily relocated to Texas to stay with their son John. While living in Texas, Flora again began teaching, this time working with Spanish-speaking children.

Once again life changed for the couple. In 1962, Jake was appointed warden at the Lycoming County Prison. As a result of passing the 100,000-population mark in the 1950 census, Lycoming County had advanced from a sixth-class to a fifth-class county, which resulted in a change of status of its jail to that of a prison, with a resident warden in charge. Previously the immediate responsibility for the jail had rested with the sheriff, who was required to live at the jail, with his wife as matron. Jake only held the position of warden for seven months, until he passed away unexpectedly in his sleep in his apartment at the prison.

According to the article in the April 3, 1963, edition of the Sun-Gazette, after Jake’s passing, the prison board called a special meeting to “temporarily” appoint Flora as warden. Floyd Fravel, a prison guard, was given a temporary appointment as deputy warden. The article goes on to state that when Jake had been the warden, Flora had been employed as a matron and they had received salaries of $4,400 and $2,800, respectively. Upon Flora’s temporary appointment as warden, she would also continue to perform her duties as matron. For her combined roles, Mrs. Matthews was to receive a salary of $4,020, and Deputy Warden Fravel would receive a salary of $3,960.

According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, women began working in prisons as early as 1885. Prior to this time, male officers provided oversite of the women who cleaned the prisons and did other “women’s work.” Various women’s groups banded together to push for the hiring of prison matrons to protect vulnerable female prisoners. The duties of a prison matron included receiving, searching and caring for female prisoners in custody, as well as accompanying female prisoners to court. This job could be a dangerous one due to the fact that the incarcerated women had been convicted of crimes ranging from shoplifting to homicide. It was very different from Flora’s job of supervising a room of students!

The warden was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the facility, including personnel and inmate management, creation and implementation of safety and security procedures and supervision of the daily facility operations.

Flora, described as a soft-spoken former schoolteacher, was believed to be not only the first woman to serve as warden of the Lycoming County Prison but also the only female prison warden in Pennsylvania and perhaps in the nation up to that time. As warden, Flora sought better conditions for guards, employees and prisoners; I would say that she took her job responsibilities very seriously and wanted to make a difference. In November 1965, Flora obtained approval to update the uniforms used by prison personnel.

Flora held the position of warden until Saturday, February 19, 1966, when she passed away in her apartment at the prison. Richard Fisher was the deputy warden in charge of the prison office at that time, and he went to her apartment to investigate when she did not appear in the office at the usual time. Flora had attended a meeting of the prison board on Friday morning in the courthouse and had appeared to be in good health, according to board members.

While researching articles on notable women, I spend a lot of time digging as deeply as possible into the lives of the women whose stories I plan to share. I feel as though I get to know them a little bit. And the soft-spoken, pearl-wearing Flora Matthews, the first female warden in Pennsylvania, who began her career at age 16 teaching children who were only a few years younger than she was, emerged not only as someone who was married to a well-known and politically connected man, but also as a very strong woman in her own right. She moved from the school room to the restaurant and then into politics, serving as a county director for the Lycoming County Council of Republican Woman, a jail matron living at the jail with her husband and finally a prison matron and warden combined, living at the prison. I would say that that alone is not for the faint of heart.

News of her passing was noted by the Morning News in Wilmington, Delaware, which announced in the February 21, 1966 edition that Mrs. Flora V. Matthews, believed to be the only female prison warden in Pennsylvania, had passed away at the age of 72.

Flora was buried in the Salladasburg cemetery next to her husband. The next time you drive down Matthews Boulevard in South Williamsport, remember Flora and the contributionshe made to the changing role of women in our society.

Jo Ann Tobias is a regular volunteer at the Lycoming County Genealogical Society Library. She loves history and discovering more about Lycoming County and the people who made it what it is today.