Marie Matthews with husband, Ed, at Michael Mapongwana, a clinic in Cape Town
Marie Matthews, a remarkable woman and a key supporter of m2m, passed away on Wednesday, 18 September, 2011.
Marie was one of our founding US Board members, and she and her husband Ed were ardent supporters of mothers2mothers from the very beginning, when they helped launch our very first programs in South Africa. Marie cared deeply for women and mothers and embraced what we hoped to achieve from Day one. Together, they donated money, enlisted their friends as supporters and continued to promote us with the Starr Foundation. But more than that, Marie brought her heart to us. We could not have had a more vocal champion. And we would not be where we are today without her.
She has been honored and immortalized with a plaque on the wall of our meeting room in the Michael Mapongwana Maternal Obstetrics Unit in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. It says, “This site is dedicated to our first mother, Marie Matthews; to her kindness and caring and her dedication to mothers living with HIV.”
Marie will be missed for her friendship and spirit and love for our mothers and our program.
