Matthews took walk with Lewis

Brewton resident remembers the civil rights icon's drive

Brewton resident H.K. Matthews said he met John Lewis for the first time in 1965 just prior to the famous 'Bloody Sunday' as protesters began their march from Selma to Montgomery across the Edmund-Pettis Bridge.

Matthews, 92, said that one day changed the course of civil rights and he thought about Lewis, who died Friday at the age of 80.

"I met John during the Selma to Montgomery march," Matthews said this week. "He was 25 at the time."

Matthews said Lewis began corresponding with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., when Lewis was about 15-years old.

Matthews said while many remember Lewis as a...