Meet New Member Mary Matthes
by Rosemary Cummings

Mary Matthes was born in Wilmington, DE and lived between the DE Art Museum and the B & O Railroad station. Her family moved to the "country" near Delaware Park and she traveled into the city to St. Elizabeth High School. Her bachelor's and master's degrees in education are from the University of Delaware, with over 150 credit hours beyond that, plus 30 hours of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Washington in Seattle. She obviously likes learning new ideas!

Before teaching, her career included secretarial work and flying internationally as a flight attendant. She met her husband the first year of teaching and has four children: twin boys, and two daughters, who have generously given her five grandchildren. Her husband, who passed away unexpectedly four years ago, was a school principal, and his job brought them downstate to Milford, then Cape Henlopen, and finally Salisbury, MD. She has taught third grade at Rehoboth Elementary for 27 years.

In her spare time, she gardens and does art work (pottery, painting, and drawing), and when not reading or taking classes, she likes to travel. Her goal is to visit every continent, with only Australia and Antarctica left on her list. Space exploration and astronomy fascinate her, and she makes presentations for NASA and JPL about the unmanned space missions. She teaches flight to her students to inspire them to careers in science and math. On her return from China, she taught students from grades 3-8 about Chinese culture, music, and art.

Why is she a member of Rehoboth Kiwanis? She wanted to do something for the students who arrive at school an hour before the other children, and she had activities about geography in mind. The group became the K-Kids and they are working on leadership skills and community service. She said, "It' been rewarding for me to lead them when some have meager opportunities to succeed otherwise".