To be honored during May 11 graduation ceremony

Both of the 2019 Hennessey High School Hall of Fame inductees were among 1970s HHS graduates, both were in the military for 22 years, and both were teachers.

Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Earl A. Enix, Class of 1973, will be inducted during graduation ceremonies at 6 p.m. Saturday, May 11, at the school auditorium. He was an Air Force pilot and instructor, in the Reserves, and is currently a United Airlines pilot who lives in Colorado.

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. John Charles Matousek, known to his 1970 graduating classmates and others as J.C., will be inducted posthumously.

He died Feb. 18, 2017.

His youngest of seven children, Joseph Matousek, will be a 2019 HHS grad.

John C. Matousek was an Armored Officer and veteran of the first Gulf War and returned to Hennessey after he retired from service.

Then he taught upper math high school classes as well as physics and military history at Chisholm High School in Enid.

Enix Biography

Earl A. Enix spent 22 years in service to our country in the U.S. Air Force as a pilot and instructor. The former Eagle Scout is in his 33rd year with United Airlines as an instructor and pilot.

He grew up on the family farm west of Hennessey with his mother and father, Lee and Millie Alice Enix, and older brother Richard.

Earl Enix and his brother still own the home place as well as a farm east of town. His great grandfather, Samuel B. Rogers, homesteaded the East Place in The Run of 1889.

He established the Enix Family Scholarship for Hennessey High School three years ago in honor of his parents and as a tribute to all of his Hennessey ancestors from the Enix, Redenbo, and Rogers families.

Enix lives in Centennial, Colo., with his wife, Candy. He has two grown children, Cassie and Evan.

He was a four-year letterman in football and baseball and a three-year letterman in basketball at HHS. He was a member of the 1972 state runner-up basketball team as well as the state semifinal football team that same year.

He was in the National Honor Society.

Enix Air Force/College

Upon graduation, Enix attended the Air Force Academy and graduated in 1977 with a Bachelors of Science in Business Management. He went to pilot training at Vance Air Force Base and graduated in July 1978.

His assignment from there was as an instructor pilot in the T-38 at Columbus Air Force Base in Columbus, Miss. Enix taught U.S. and international students in advanced aviation including aerobatics, instrument, formation, and low-level flying from 1978-81.

His next assignment was to Tinker Air Force base in Midwest City. He was a pilot on the AWACS (Airborne and Warning Control System) Boeing E-3 Sentry from 1982-85. He completed worldwide missions being deployed to Saudi Arabia, Iceland and Okinawa.

During that time, Enix also earned his master’s of business administration from the University of Central Oklahoma.

He separated from active duty, but continued in the Air Force reserves to complete his 20 years of military service, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.

In the reserves, Enix was an admissions liaison officer for the Air Force Academy and College ROTC programs as well as the director of the Northern Colorado division.

Enix United Airlines Work

Enix was hired by United Airlines on June 26, 1985. He began his career as a DC-10 instructor pilot. He flew the Boeing 727 next and then was a 737 Line Check Airman.

He flew the Airbus 320/319 in Denver, Colo., and is currently the captain on the Boeing 787 Dream-liner based in San Francisco, Calif.

He has been flying for 46 years, and has more than 20,000 flying hours.

Enix Memberships

He is a member of the Sabre Society of the U.S. Air Force Academy Endowment Fund, the Western Stock Show Association, the Falcon Athletic Club at the Air Force Academy, and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).

Enix is a lifetime member of both the Air Force Academy and the University of Central Oklahoma Alumni Associations.

Matousek Biography

The Hennessey and Chisholm School communities were shocked at the death of “Mr. Matousek” in a traffic accident on U.S. 81 in 2017. He was hit head-on by another driver and that driver was charged and convicted of murder and given a life prison sentence.  

Matousek, and his wife, Terri, raised seven children in Hennessey and all are graduates of HHS: Rachel Rowland (2000), Katrina Matousek-Ames (2001); Phillip Matousek (2003), Emily Matousek (2009); Maureen Watford (2012), Stephen Matousek (2014) and Joseph Matousek (2019).

Matousek graduated from HHS in 1970 and later from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He was a veteran of the first Gulf War and after 22 years of active duty in the U.S. Army retired at the rank of lieutenant colonel.

He was the son of the late Ernest and Delores (Schovanec) of Hennessey and his family and brothers have farmed in Hennessey for many years.

Matousek Comes Home

“My Dad knew the only place for him was back in Hennessey,” wrote his daughter, Katrina. “He moved our family down to Oklahoma (where he grew up) and he immediately started his path to obtaining a teaching certification. Within one year of retirement, he was a new teacher. He spent the remainder of his life teaching at Chisholm High School in Enid.”

Matousek Teaching Career

She said teaching was a “true passion” for her father.

He taught all of the upper math classes (algebra 2, geometry, trigonometry, calculus) plus physics and military history.

He never wanted to see a child fail, she said, and spent many hours tutoring students after school.

“He always said, ‘I’ll retire when my seniors graduate.’ He said this with a smile because we knew that day would never come because he would always have a new senior class in the fall.”

Matousek was the sponsor of the academic quiz bowl at Chisholm, a class sponsor for many years and was Teacher of the Year in 2016-17.

He taught at Chisholm for 20 years.

Memberships

He was a member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, and the St. Joseph Men’s Club where he served as president for several years. He was also a past member of the Lions Club.

Matousek was a supporter of the Gary Sinise Foundation For Wounded Veterans, and was a big supporter of his students and children in their athletic and music concerts.

“He wanted us all to have a solid education,” wrote Katrina, “because he believed it was the foundation to our futures.”

That was also why Matousek occasionally showed up in the audience at Hennessey Board of Education meetings.