The town of Ethan is mourning the loss of its school superintendent, as H1N1 claims another life.

Terry Mathis had been battling cancer for the past two months, but died Monday afternoon from complications related to the H1N1 flu virus. To say Mathis is going to be missed is an understatement because in a town of 300, Mathis was everything.

Mathis was more than the superintendent at Ethan.  He coached basketball for several years, leading his teams to the state tournament twice. He was a bus driver, a city councilman and a volunteer firefighter. His brother, Bill, sums it up best. 

"He was Mr. Ethan. I know people in Mount Vernon might try to claim him, but he spent more than half his life in Ethan.  He was Mr. Ethan," Bill Mathis said.

Football coach, Tim Hawkins, considered Mathis his best friend. 

"Terry was family to me.  He was my older brother, my big brother, my kids looked up to him like their uncle,"
Hawkins said.

Hawkins says Mathis always had a way of bringing everyone together.

Mathis never was married and didn't have any children of his own, but if you ask anyone in Ethan, they'll tell you he took care of a lot of kids.

"Those kids were his kids and I got more brothers, I mean they were all his brothers, he loved them like brothers," Bill said.

"Terry had thousands of kids.  He made all of our kids better.  Our kids played harder because of him and his presence is what's going to be missed the most," Hawkins said.

Mathis' desk sits empty and that's exactly how the entire town of Ethan feels following his death.

Mathis was 49.  HIs funeral will be held Saturday at the Ethan gym. Thursday's pep rally for the state football championship has been cancelled. Emery/Ethan plays Howard in the 9AA championship at the Dakota Dome on Friday afternoon.