“That’s where I got my interest in agriculture,” says the 91-year old man.

When he was about 14, he began working on local dairy farms in Medina on weekends.

“I guess I made up my mind that I wanted to be a farmer.”

He met Millie Arnett in Miss Big’s kindergarten class, before he knew she was the love of his life. They were also in the same Sunday school classes throughout the years.

William and Ethel Matson and their three young sons, Bill, Bob and Jack. Submitted photo

“We had a wonderful time,” says the senior citizen. “I became interested in Millie in seventh grade.”

As a young man, he enjoyed assembling model airplanes and participated in every sport that was offered at Medina Central School.

“When I left high school, I held the record for the mile run.”

By the time he graduated from high school in 1949, he was courting Millie in a 1930 Model A Coupe which had a rumble seat.

“I drove it to Cornell in my freshman year,” he says. “I sold it and bought a 1948 Studebaker Commander convertible from a secretary at the college.”

This photo was taken of Matson and his new fiance. The couple was married nearly 70 years when Mrs. Matson passed away.

While Bob was studying agriculture at Cornell, Miss Arnett was working on a degree in elementary education at National College of Education in Evanston, Illinois. They were married on February 3, 1951.

In the early 1950s, the couple purchased a 200-acre farm near Medina in Shelby, N.Y., where Matson raised beef cattle. They remained at that location for about 15 years.

“Those were hard, tough years,” he recalls.

They relocated to Greensburg, Pa., after he took a job as a territory representative for New Holland Farm Machinery and later to Findlay, Ohio. He stayed with New Holland for four or five years and then went to work for John Deere as a Western New York territory representative. He kept that position until he bought into the John Deere business in Falconer, about six years later. The partnership at Zahm-Matson made it necessary for the family to move. They settled on Jamestown Street in Randolph, a community that grew to love and respect the couple and their growing family.

Shortly after the move, the businessman started Matson Auction Company, which covered Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania. With agriculture running in his veins, Matson again purchased a farm. This time it was the 225-acre Burnett Farm on Bush Road in Kennedy. Once again, the farmer chose to raise beef cattle. At that time, he bought another 100-acre farm.

“It was pretty much a grain farm,” he says. “I built an airstrip there and flew all over the eastern states. I flew a Cessna 182, a beautiful plane.”

Millie accompanied him on many of those trips. They eventually built a new home on the Lower Bush Road property.

“That was absolutely lovely,” he reminisces.

After raising six children, the Matsons downsized into a smaller home on Church Street in Randolph and wintered in a condo in Punta Gorda, Fla., for more than 20 years.

“They are beautiful people, who still call me,” he says of his Florida friends and neighbors.

Over the years the couple made many exciting memories together, including the years they owned a cottage on Chautauqua Lake.

“We always had sail boats up there. We had a very heavy career in boating,” says the entrepreneur.

Matson did not exaggerate. They moved up to a 42-foot trawler, which allowed them to travel the entire length of the Erie Canal, all five of the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. They also boated in the Atlantic Ocean, the Intercoastal Waterway and the Trent-Severn Waterway in Canada.

“We would go up to Maine. It was a great venture and we were able to work it into different times,” he shares. “We took to the waterways from Dunkirk. We kept busy, but we enjoyed it.”

He still uses the sturdy chairs from their last boat when he sits outside.

“It was a very lovely boat and I still talk to the people that bought it.”

The nonagenarian was captain of the Chautauqua Belle for at least five years and one of the captains of the Bemus Point-Stowe Ferry for about 10 years, as was his oldest son, Bob Jr. Boating was just one of Matson’s leisure time activities. He enjoyed skiing and as a member of the Fearless Foursome, which was made up of Ted Searle, Betty Dunwoody, John Wade and Matson, he played tennis well into his eighties.

“I never had time to do anything like that before I moved to Randolph,” he affectionately recalls. “We had a wonderful time. That was so good.”

Another of his hobbies is his 1931 Model A Ford Roadster with a rumble seat, a car made the year he was born, which he acquired 15 years ago. Due to his age, he has started to give some thought about parting with the car, complete with the original instruction book and a canvas top.

The active man took interest in his community by serving as a Cattaraugus County Legislator and a supervisor for the town of Conewango. He is the longest member of the Randolph Lions Club and is a past President of New York State Auctioneers Association.

“That was a real honor,” he proudly states.

He is a member of the Randolph United Presbyterian Church.

The couple had six children, a daughter and five sons, which includes a set of twins. Bob Jr. and David live in Hamburg, Betsy Jenkins resides in Georgia, Tim is in St. Louis, and Jim and Doug live in Randolph. There are 11 grandchildren.

His beloved Millie passed away on October 1, 2020, three months shy of their 70th anniversary. Today he finds pleasure in a slower-paced lifestyle. Zoey, the neighbor’s West Highland White Terrier, spends many hours with him.

“When I back the car out, she comes running. I open the door and she jumps onto my lap,” he says. “One of my neatest times every week is when a mother and daughter from the Seventh Day Adventist Church brings me lunch.”