Harry Fisher Matthews

The Matthews family is deeply saddened to report the death of Harry Matthews on October, 31, 2025. A loving husband, father, and grandfather, he was also an icon and legend within the antique engine community. Many of you may have met Harry at various engine shows, most recently in Coolspring, PA in 2020 before his illness with Covid 19 limited his ability to travel. Harry is survived by his wife Jeannie, daughters Heather (John) and Debbie (Terry), and granddaughter Annie. In Lieu of flowers, we appreciate your continuing financial support of Smokstak.com as we continue Harry’s legacy.You may read more about Harry below or on harrymatthews.com for his own account of “the fellow who put this entire mess together.”Harry Fisher Matthews was born in Montour Falls, New York on December 12th, 1941, five days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Growing up in a rural area as the youngest of three sons of parents surviving the great depression shaped his lifelong interests and love of antiques, trains, and farm equipment. Harry spent his formative years near Watkins Glen, NY in a farmhouse overlooking Seneca Lake and right down the hill from the Lehigh Valley Railroad. His father was a plumber, and the family grew vegetables and tended their fruit trees and grape vineyards. His brothers Clarence and Walter hunted deer and small game and the entire family fished to make ends meet. Harry’s brothers were much older and on their own by the time his father passed away when he was 12. Still a young boy, Harry, already familiar with farm mechanics, found comfort in learning about electronics in the basement, taking apart old radios and appliances, learning what made them tick. This led to his first true hobby in Ham Radio, mastering morse code and acquiring his novice license at a young age (call sign K2AOU). After graduating from Watkins Glen Central High School, in 1959, his interest in radio and electronics made Alfred State College of Technology a good fit for an A.A.S. degree in Electronic Communications Engineering where he graduated in 1963. With many jobs along the way, first as a disc jockey, advancing to a Broadcast Engineer at WHEN CBS Television (1963-1965) and 7 Eyewitness News ABC WKBW (1965-1967), he finally ended up in Oswego, New York, working as Radio and Television Chief Engineer at the State University radio and television station in the learning resources department. Jeannie and Harry were married in 1963 and bought a 40-acre farm in Southwest Oswego on Tug Hill Road in 1969 where they raised their two daughters, Debbie and Heather. The farm came with three old barns filled with all kinds of old farm equipment including two tractors (an Allis Chalmers C and a 1932 John Deere GPO) both of which Harry fully restored in the old dirt floor garage along with a 1954 MG TF. Those tractors came in handy for mowing fields, pulling stumps and plowing vegetable gardens. Farm work was a big part of Harry and Jeannie’s lives at that time, but summers were also filled with cross-country travel, mountain adventures, and rockhounding. Transportation for these trips evolved from a tiny Scotty trailer pulled by his 1968 HEMI Charger, to a Jeep and tent trailer, truck camper, mini motorhomes and finally the monster class A motorhome they used in retirement. Winters were spent tinkering in the basement “hamshack” and in later years at the workbench in the large family room where Harry assembled an early 8080 processor computer from a kit, well before RadioShack produced the first TRS-80 home computer.While rooted in Oswego, Harry always had a strong connection to Sarasota, Florida where his mother owned and operated the Siesta Inn, an obscure old-time hotel first established in 1906 (the inn and cottages long since bulldozed and replaced by millionaire mansions). Between 1979 and 1985, Harry and family lived in Sarasota on Siesta Key, where he further developed his growing interest in computers and operated a small computer shop on the mainland until the market became saturated with brand names requiring high volume sales.Returning to SUNY Oswego as Associate for Instructional Resources, and fully skilled for the digital age, Harry spent winter evenings at the new family home on Deer Ridge messing with computers and learning all about “searching” this new thing we now call the internet. Harry never did anything on a small scale, with his multitude of hobbies taking off in big ways. Thus, it is not surprising that soon after hearing about and going to a Steam engine show at Canandaigua, New York, he acquired restored an old Witte Engine, the first of many to come in his collection. This hobby surpassed all others and grew to fill an entire shop upon retiring in Sarasota where Harry’s OldEngine.com, Enginads.com and Smokstak.com were born.Harry was a Senior Life Member and Certified Professional Broadcast Engineer by the Society of Broadcast Engineers, a life member of the Amateur Radio Relay League, and the National Rifle Association.Harry’s vast life experience, curiosity, intellect, and expertise in technology, mechanics, and life skills, and his confidence in fixing and solving problems will be profoundly missed by family and friends. The loss of his steady love and the comfort of his presence leave a deep hole in our hearts.

Carter-Trent Funeral Home, Kingsport is serving the Matthews family.