Roberta Matthess

Roberta Matthess died on Thursday, December 18, 2025, at her home in Columbus.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM Monday, January 5, 2026 in the chapel of McMullen Funeral home and Crematory, 3874 Gentian Blvd. Columbus, GA 31907. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the funeral home. Interment will follow the service at Parkhill Cemetery, 4161 Macon Rd. Columbus, GA 31907.

Roberta was born April 16, 1929, to Charles Roy Thurman and Gertrude Scott Thurman in Leadwood, Missouri. She was a 1947 graduate of Leadwood High school. After moving to ST. Louis, she met and married SFC Charles “Chuck” Matthess, already a Bronze Star veteran from Korea, on December 7, 1954. She embraced being an Army wife, and made a home for chuck and their growing family, first in St. Louis, then in Ansbach, Germany during the Cold War; two children were born there, and after being posted to Ft. Benning, GA they made Columbus their permanent home, as Chuck served one tour in Vietnam, where he received a second Bronze Star as a combat medic, and then a tour with the family at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Chuck retired in Columbus, where the last three siblings were born. He passed away on March 14, 2002.

She was predeceased by her siblings Norma Ruth Thurman Morris and Joyce Thurman Morris, as well as by her brother, Glendal Thurman, who was killed on active service in the Philippines in 1945.

Roberta is survived by Denise Matthess Hill of Decatur, AL, Brian Matthess, Charles Robin “Red” Matthess, (most excellent dog Max), Mark Allen “Red” Matthess, Michael Glen Matthess (Myrna), and grandchildren Nicholas Matthess, Bailey Matthess, and Kane Matthess, all of Columbus.