Frank had planted the idea first, asking whether she really wanted to spend the rest of her life in nursing and suggesting construction instead. “At the time I thought he must be insane,” Matthews laughs. “But looking back, I think he saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself.” While adjusting her nursing schedule to have a baby and pursue nurse practitioner school, Matthews began helping her father, Don, administratively in his division of the family company. “I was a hustler and I knew babies and nursing school was expensive, so I said sure, why not.” That decision changed everything. “I loved that job. I loved seeing projects come to fruition. I loved solving the problems and communicating and setting a job up for success.” Construction gave her something nursing could not: the ability to stay with a project from beginning to end. “I never really got that in nursing. I would always have to pass that person to the next shift or the next stage of their life. I never had a hand in their next step.” By December 2020, Matthews had started MattLane Construction as a side business, taking smaller jobs so she could learn more about field operations.
Then Frank passed away.
“He was doing great, still working every day, really healthy for his age, and then one day in January, he got sick and fought a good fight. But he ultimately passed away February 14th of 2022.” “It rocked my family to the core. It really flipped us upside down.” Matthews was grieving, but she was also afraid. Her grandfather’s affairs were not yet in order. She did not know what would happen to her father’s career, the family business or the legacy that had shaped them.
Lauren Matthews, Founder, MattLane Construction
MUDDY BOOTS, DEEP ROOTS
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