Mike Mathis remembers the day vividly—the day that he realized he grew up as a foster child.

"It wasn't until I was a foster parent myself that I realized I too was a foster child. I was in the garage working on my car with one of our foster sons. As I was telling him the story of my childhood—how I was raised by my Aunt Marge and Uncle Boy—he said, 'You're a foster kid too.'"

Born November 20, 1942, to Rosemary and Leo A. Mathis, Mike Mathis was raised by his paternal Aunt Marge and Uncle Boy. When Mike was only four months old, his mother left him on the front doorstep of Marge and Boy's apartment. She then moved to Florida with another man while Mike's father, Leo, was serving in the United States Army in Germany during World War II.

Upon his return from WWII, Leo Mathis worked at with Boy at the Ohio Knife Company as a precision grinder. Once Leo, Boy and Marge were able to save enough money, they were able to purchase a two-bedroom house in Price Hill in Cincinnati, OH. These three dedicated adults also saved enough money to send Mike to Saint Xavier High School once he graduated from Holy Family Grade School. "It took every penny they had to send me to the best private high school in Cincinnati," Mike recalls.

On an athletic scholarship, Mike attended Purdue University, where he met his wife Sherrie. It was love at first sight and the couple married two years later on September 12, 1964. A year later, Mike Mathis, Jr., was born.

Upon graduating from Purdue with a B.S. in Civil Engineering, Mike was offered a position with Procter and Gamble as a Production Engineer at Ivorydale in Cincinnati (1964-1965 and 1967-1976).

Mike was a member of the Army ROTC while at Purdue. In 1966 Mike received orders for deployment to Vietnam and Thailand. During his 13 months overseas, he built temporary airstrips in Northern Thailand. He was also asked to build recreation facilities for troops in Southeast Asia including basketball courts and softball fields. And so his basketball refereeing career began.

While Mike was overseas, his second son Monte was born in 1967. When Mike returned to Cincinnati and to Procter and Gamble in late 1967, he began to referee little league football and basketball games.
 

Mike and Sherrie’s third son Marty was born in 1970. By 1972, Mike advanced through the high school officiating ranks to the collegiate level – Big Ten, Mid American and Ohio Valley Conferences in football and basketball.

In 1976, Mike was hired by the National Basketball Association as a referee, and he resigned from Procter and Gamble. Four years later, Mike joined Sherrie in her charitable endeavourers with Cincinnati Union Bethel’s Anna Louise Inn, Senior Center in Winton Terrace, and the Terrace Guild.

During the summer of 1984, Mike and Sherrie's youngest son Marty asked if his best friend Brian could live with the family. Brian’s mother was incarcerated, and he was taking care of his brother and sister. Mike and Sherrie immediately contacted the proper authorities to bring Brian and his siblings into their home as a crisis placement. While Brian’s siblings decided to stay with relatives, Brian chose to stay with the Mathis family. After becoming licensed foster parents, Mike and Sherrie enrolled Brian at Purcell-Marian High School with their own sons.

A member of the Purcell-Marian 1986 State Championship football team, Brian was the leading rusher and scorer. He received a football scholarship to Penn State University in 1988, where he played football for five years. After graduating in 1993 with a degree in criminal justice, Brian was drafted and played in the NFL for three years – the Philadelphia Eagles (1992), the San Francisco 49ers (1993) and the Carolina Panthers (1994).

At the same time, Marty received a football scholarship to University of Minnesota. After graduating in 1994 with a degree in youth studies, Marty worked at Saint Josephs Home for abandoned and abused children in Minneapolis. Inspired by his experiences, Marty approached Mike and Sherrie and said that he would like to form his own children’s agency to save more at-risk youth.

That summer (1995), the Mathis family took a family vacation and decided to assist children in crisis, which became the family's mission in life. Upon their return from vacation, Mike and Sherrie contacted their attorney and established two 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations: Mathis Care Foster Care and Adoption Agency and Mathis Foundation for Children.

Today, Mike and Sherrie are dedicated to supporting and engaging youth living in substitute care through the Mathis Foundation for Children.