ASHLEY TERRY
It takes a special person to be given not one, but two retirement sendoffs — and Matt Adams definitely fits the bill.
The former assistant superintendent of finance and operations at Azle Independent School District first bid his fellow educators adieu in August 2025, when he stepped down from his full-time role. Adams remained employed with the district as a part-time consultant to assist with ongoing construction projects, making his first retirement celebration a bit premature — but it gave the district more time to celebrate a beloved colleague before sending him off for good.
“We know how much Matt loves the spotlight,” Superintendent Todd Smith joked during Adams’ second celebration in The Swarm Oct. 5. “Matt thought he had avoided this at his first retirement.”
Although Adams may not love being the center of attention, the spotlight was hard to avoid throughout his eight years with the district.
Adams initially applied for the role of chief financial officer in 2019 after leaving his job as superintendent at Peaster Independent School District. Smith, having known Adams through mutual friends, said he was shocked, yet excited, to hear Adams had applied for the role, as he had spent his entire career in Parker County.
However, after just six months as CFO, Adams was approached by Smith — who had just been named interim superintendent — to ask if he would apply for the assistant superintendent position.
“I went to Matt, and I was like, ‘Hey, they want me to get an assistant superintendent, but I don’t want them to do away with my job and me not have a job if I’m not named superintendent,’” Smith said, laughing. “But Matt said, ‘Yeah, I’ll step in.’”
Smith said he felt bad asking Adams to step back into a superintendent role — especially since that’s what he was trying to avoid when he came to Azle.
“Matt had stepped away from the superintendent role to kind of get more away from that 24/7 (demand), but I think we put him in an even busier role as the assistant superintendent for the last five years,” Smith chuckled.
For the next six years, Adams essentially juggled two positions — both assistant superintendent and CFO — overseeing multiple bond projects, operations, construction and finances for the district.
According to a previous article in The Azle News, Adams’ tenure included balanced budgets, regular maintenance and annual taxpayer savings.
“I mean, there’s nothing more reassuring than you coming out every meeting and saying, ‘We’ve got a balanced budget again this year,’ even though the world around us is falling apart,” Adams said in the article. “To be able to drive by and say, ‘Hey, I was part of the planning and process of building that facility or that building,’ and I think we’ve made a lot of improvements.”
Throughout his eight-year tenure with Azle ISD, Smith said he never saw Adams upset and that he “couldn’t ask for a better personality” from the longtime educator.
“After 8 o’clock at night, you aren’t getting ahold of Matt. He is an old man in spiritual health,” Smith said, chuckling.
Smith said if he could have gotten Adams to answer the phone at midnight, he could have delivered terrible news, knowing Adams’ response would have been “Mercy!” followed by “That’s not good.”
“He was just calm at all times and that was a blessing — especially as we had to go through COVID,” Smith said.
Adams’ calm demeanor wasn’t the only constant in the administration building. Smith said if it was any time before lunch, you could always count on one thing: Adams would be hungry.
“The restaurants in Azle are definitely going to feel that Matt's not around,” Smith joked. “Matt would come into my office about 7:30, 7:45 every morning, and he'd say, ‘What's for lunch?’ ‘It's not even 8 o'clock.’ He'd say, ‘We've got to eat sometime.’”
While the Peaster High School graduate only spent a chunk of his career in Azle — and only attended second grade at Walnut Creek Elementary — the small town has always felt more like home to him because of his grandfather, local legend Jim Bob Nation.
According to previous articles in The Azle News and Heritage Magazine, a special publication of The Azle News, Adams’ granddad was highly involved in the community through the Azle Lions Club, the Optimist Club of Azle and Ash Creek Baptist Church. He was a football announcer for Azle schools for 41 years, played minor league baseball for the New York Yankees organization and helped develop youth baseball in Azle — a legacy that ultimately led to the Azle High School baseball field being named “Jim Bob Nation’s Field of Dreams,” which opened in the 1990s.
Adams announced at his Oct. 5 retirement celebration that it’s been humbling to work in the same community where his grandfather is so revered.
“It has truly been a blessing to kind of finish my career here at Azle. It did mean a lot to me to be able to come back to the town and school that my family was a big part of all those years,” Adams said.
He explained that while it wasn’t always easy to tell someone, “no” in his official capacity, he always strived to treat everybody like family — and after eight years, that’s exactly what Azle ISD has become to him.
“I had a good friend just a while back who said, ‘One thing about you, I feel like you always expected excellence, but you were always fair and kind to people through the process.’ I hope that's how everybody feels,” Adams said.
Now that retirement is on the horizon, Adams said he plans to take a page from his granddad’s chapter and finally take Smith out on the lake to fish — something he promised almost a decade ago.
“He likes to give me a hard time, because when I first came over, one of the things I told him was, ‘Hey, in summer times, maybe I could bring the boat over and we can go get a jump on Eagle Mountain Lake,’ and I think we’re still waiting to do that,” Adams laughed.
Fishing has always been a huge part of Adams’ life — so much so that it almost cut his job interview with Smith short back in 2019.
“I will never forget it. We were interviewing Matt and he basically said, ‘Y’all need to hurry up because my family’s waiting on me, and we’re going to East Texas for a fishing trip,’” Smith said.
Adams’ love for fishing was also on display at his retirement ceremony in the form of an eerily realistic, fish-shaped cake. Soon enough, he’ll have plenty of time for the real thing, as Adams plans to spend his retirement traveling with his wife of 34 years, Misti, and his sons, Cade and Reid.
“It has truly been a blessing to be here,” Adams said. “I hope Azle is better than it was when I left. I hope Azle continues to get better and improve every day because of some of the things we were able to do and put in place. Azle will always be a fun place for me.”
Smith said everyone at Azle ISD has been blessed having Adams on staff for seven years full time and one year part time and wishes him nothing but the best for the years ahead.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better man as far as his integrity and what he brings — from a husband to a father, to a now father-in-law, to a friend to all of us,” Smith said. “Mr. Adams, thank you very much.”
