The Reverend Arthur E. Matott died on October 1, 2010 at the Orleans Convalescent Center. He was born in Dover, New Jersey, October 26, 1922 to Arthur P. and Kathryn A. (Roberts) Matott. Arthur had two brothers, Charles and Edward, both deceased. His wife Joan died in 2009. He is survived by his two sisters in law and three nieces and three nephews.
He served as a quartermaster, U.S. Navy on the USS Comet, an attack transport in the Pacific during WW II.
With a BA degree from Brothers College of Drew University and a Masters in Theology from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1951, he was a Teaching Fellow in Church History at Princeton Theological Seminary from 1951 – 1954 while pursuing his doctoral degree at both the Seminary and the Princeton University Graduate School.
Arthur was ordained in the Gospel Ministry on June 30, 1951 at the Hoagland Memorial Presbyterian Church, Dover, NJ. He served s pastor of the Featherbed Lane Presbyterian church of the New York Presbytery 1954 – 1960; the First Presbyterian Church of Perth Amboy, NJ 1960 – 1982 and the Brentwood Presbyterian Church of Long Island, NY 1982 – 1987.
He and Jean Calderwood Buhman were joined in marriage at the historic St. Marks Church in the Bowerie in New York City on January 23, 1954. They retired to their home in Orleans, MA on October 27, 1987 and joined the Federated Church of Orleans shortly thereafter. He gifted their home to the church in 2009.
Arthur was one of the 300 chosen to make the entire 54 mile civil rights march along Rt. 80 from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, March 21 to March 25, 1965.
He was a volunteer of NOAH (No Other Available Housing) Shelter for the homeless in Hyannis, a founding member serving on the Board of Directors of the Lower Cape Cod Community Development Corporation of Cape Cod and a volunteer and Board of Directors member of the AIDS support Group of Cape Cod (formerly the Provincetown AIDS Support Group). He served on the fund-raising committee in 1997 to establish Canal House in Orleans (home for persons recovering from addiction), was a founding member of Emmaus House task force of The Federated Church of Orleans which helped to establish a home for persons recovering from mental illness,, and a member of FOAH (Friends of Orleans Affordable Homes), a fund-raising committee with the on-going goal of establishing affordable, work force homes.
A memorial service will be held at 2:00PM, Sunday October 17, 2010 at the Federated Church of Orleans, 162 Main St. East Orleans, MA A private internment will take place at the National Cemetery in Bourne.
Memorial donations may be made to the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod, P.O. Box 1522, Provincetown, MA 02657 or The Federated Church of Orleans Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 761, E. Orleans, MA 02643.