James (Jimbo) Daryll Matthews
December 22, 1942 – December 1, 2022
 
Jim passed away peacefully, December 1, 2022. Anyone who had met Jimbo would know that on that first day of the last month of the year, Elvis had truly left the building. 
 
Jim is survived by his wife Sheila Matthews, his cousins, Donna & Dick Van Wyhe, Linda Matthews, Mickey Pirnik, Carolyn, Louie & Joan Pirnik, Don and Dorris Pirnik, Phillip & June Grayson and their children.
 
Jim received his Master’s in Psychology from Cal State Long Beach (’69) while working in a Guitar Store in Fullerton, California. During this time Jim also served in the Air Force Reserve. 
 
Jim and Ron Sappington bought what is now The Guitar Shoppe April 1, 1972, 50 years ago. A few years later Ron sold his share to Kirk Sand & Miguel Rodriguez who later sold his share to Kirk. Kirk and Jim have been long time partners since 1976 (46 years!). Jim loved the Shoppe and his crew there. Jim was so very grateful for all the guys did over the past year going above and beyond… he was so proud of the team that they had built at The Guitar Shoppe. Ben Wagner, Jake Rosen, Anson Ditt, Brad Beylik.
 
Jim also had a passion for cooking. He loved to bring in a special cut of meat and spices to share with the guys at the Shoppe. After a brief cooking session and much laughter, they would take photos and share how it turned out. So Jim taught a number of his team how to cook to over the years.
 
For those more interested in learning how to play the guitar, Laguna Beach’s Guitar Shoppe was a local Mecca. Laughter, music, fun, work and occasional bursts of higher thinking all rolled together to create a second home for those who were looking for more than just a new set of strings or a peg winder.
 
Outside of music Jim had many hobbies including building and flying remote control planes and trains. Many he built from scratch and some were modified from kits for both planes and trains. If he was not at the Shoppe, you could find Jim in his personal workshop designing and building, sitting by the pond watering the fish, in the orchard eating oranges, or working on the garden railway. Jim also loved gardening and when he started building the garden railway, all from scratch, he got into scale gardening.
 
So it isn’t surprising that it was Jimbo’s desire to remain in our world as compost, so that he can continue to help our world grow. This is being handled by specialist and he will be ready to added to gardens later this spring.