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SEED TESTING INTERNATIONAL   www.seedtest.org
ASSOCIATION NEWS 
A Tribute to Stan Matthews from the ISTA Vigour 
Committee
Alison A. Powell
Vigour Committee Member
ULYA IBI (VIGOUR COMMITTEE CHAIR) 
AND MARIE-HÉLÈNE WAGNER AND 
MOHAMMAD KHAJEH HOSSEINI (VICE-
CHAIRS) initiated a tribute to Dr Stan Matthews 
following his retirement from the Committee and 
to acknowledge his contribution to seed vigour 
testing for over 50 years. They arranged this to 
take place at the end of the ISTA Germination 
and Vigour workshop in Angers (France) in 
December last year. Although Stan is no longer 
a member of the Vigour Committee, he had 
accompanied me as I was one of the lecturers in 
the workshop.
Marie-Hélène arranged an online meeting of 
the Committee at the end of the workshop and 
the four Committee members present in Angers 
were joined in the meeting by other Committee 
members. Stan thought he was to be a bystander 
in the meeting, listening to a discussion of the 
Vigour Committee’s future projects, and the 
tributes that followed were a complete surprise to 
both him and me.
The theme of the tributes was the Tree of Life, 
which of course begins with a seed, and in 
Stan’s case had been sown during his PhD when 
he researched conductivity as an indication 
of seed quality. The development of his work 
through the growth of the tree, branching out to 
further vigour tests and education of students, 
was exemplified in a framed text from all the 
Committee and a ceramic plate depicting 
the Tree of Life (see photo). His work with the 
Committee was further summarised in a book 
of photographs contributed by Committee 
members, covering workshops, congresses and 
times of relaxation together, plus individual 
written tributes from Committee members.
Stan was completely overwhelmed to be 
appreciated and thought of so well by the 
Committee. As he later said in an email to the 
Committee:
‘It was such a surprise that I could not adequately thank 
everyone properly, as I was overwhelmed with your 
thoughts and kindness. The gifts that you have given 
me and the thoughts behind them are very special. 
They will be reminders of happy and productive times 
working together. The Vigour Committee has always 
been a happy and cohesive group of people, and I have 
made many good friends. You have even learned to 
understand my English accent from the north  
of England (Manchester) which may not always  
be easily understood.’
Tributes and gifts to Stan Matthews from the Vigour Committee, to acknowledge his contribution to work on seed vigour

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