Mary Steele Matthews

BEAUFORT, SOUTH CAROLINA - Mary Jane Steele Matthews of Beaufort, S.C., and recently of Fernandina Beach, Fl., died  Wednesday,  July 3, in Florida.   She was born July 21, 1922 in Waterville, Kansas to the late Charles Guy Steele and Alice Green Steele.  She grew up in rural Kansas on the family owned cattle farm, Steele Ranch, the youngest of six children.  She would return to Waterville many times in her life out of both necessity and love, sharing the love of her first home with her own children.  After finishing high school and later hearing that her fiancé had died aboard the Arizona at Pearl Harbor, Mary Jane enlisted in the Marine Corps.  During her service, she met and married a handsome marine corporal, Rob Andrew Matthews, in San Diego in 1944.  They would stay married until his death 51 years later.  Having lived in five states and Hawaii and Guam, the military family settled in Beaufort in 1957.  Mary Jane was immediately active in the Carteret Street Methodist Church, Girl Scouting, band boosters, square dancing and little theater.  The family often spent Sundays after church water skiing and boating aboard some homebuilt or cobbled-together vessel that always bore the Janie". Mrs. Matthews was employed by Beaufort High School for many years as the study hall proctor where she was loved by some and known by all as a strict disciplinarian, soon embracing the nickname "Sarge".  She later was the manager of Joyland Motel and in 1973 began a long career in real estate sales and management.  Mary Jane was the first woman to serve as president of the Beaufort Chamber of Commerce and was instrumental in changing the once shabby downtown waterfront into the beautiful park it is today.  She eased into retirement after the year 2000, enjoying her home, grandchildren, foreign travel, and playing bridge. Mary Jane is survived by her four children: Rob Matthews Jr. (wife Joan) of Hardeeville, S.C., Mary Alice Johnson (husband Wilbur) of Fernandina Beach, Fl., Guy Matthews (wife Susan) of Bluffton, S.C., and Roy Matthews (wife Patricia) of Eureka, Ca.  She is also survived by her sister, Elizabeth Steele Atkinson, of St. Louis, Mo., seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be Monday, July 8, at Carteret Street United Methodist Church at 1:00 pm, followed by burial at Beaufort National Cemetery.  There will also be a visitation on Sunday, July 7, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm at Copeland Funeral Service. Instead of flowers, the family suggests that you donate money or time to a worthwhile charity. Mary Jane's was a life of meaning and purpose that touched and enriched so many others.  Through good and bad times, she laughed, loved, and was loved, and we will miss her.