Bishop lost two dedicated educators this month in Roberta Matlick and Jill Kinmont Boothe. Both were remarkable women and amazing role models, and many others have more profound things to say. However, I want to remember Mrs. Matlick here as the quintessential teacher and a woman with a true community spirit.
I think she made every interaction a teachable moment, and certainly touched hundreds of lives through multiple generations. I was in her math class as a “student teacher” (a high school student assigned to working with a small group of other students – not a student teacher working on a credential) before her retirement in 1984. I don’t think she spent long away from the class room though, as she taught two of my three children in math and reading as a long term 3rd grade volunteer. At the same time she worked with my mom at the Laws Museum to organize the Good Old Days celebration – teaching interactive history to another generation. I have no doubt she taught fractions with exuberance to three generations of more than one family.
Mrs. Matlick also loved a good mystery, so I saw her regularly here at the store. Her enthusiasm and energy were truly boundless, which is why it seemed we would have her with us always, or at least longer. She will be missed, though remembered when I straighten the J.A. Jance and Dana Stabenow shelves, or figure a sale percentage.
Her family suggested donations may be made in her memory to the Laws Museum.
