Elizabeth T. Matthews

Matthews, Elizabeth T.



Dr. Elizabeth T. Matthews, known to her friends as Mopsy, died from complications of a sudden cardiac arrest on January 25, 2016. Mopsy was born in New York City, spent her early childhood in Riverside, Connecticut and London, England, and went to high school in Rome, Italy. She attended Wellesley College and the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. Mopsy met her beloved husband Bruce Trigg at Albert Einstein College, in the Bronx, where she did her residency.

In 1983 Mopsy and Bruce moved from Manhattan to Crownpoint, New Mexico to work with the Indian Health Service, and was given the affectionate Dine nickname: "Azee'ííl'íní naa naalwol" (the doctor who is running around).

Mopsy and Bruce were married in 1985 and moved to Albuquerque where Mopsy worked for the University of New Mexico Department of Pediatrics at Carrie Tingley Hospital, and the Preschool Infant Evaluation Program. Mopsy became the Medical Director (MD) for the NM Newborn Screening Program in 2000, MD for the NM Children's Medical Services in 2003, and MD of the Family Health Bureau in 2008 until her retirement in 2012.

Since 2000, Mopsy and her family spent several years living and working in South and Southeast Asia, including teaching as a Fulbright-Nehru scholar in India.

Mopsy was a lifelong feminist and community activist, standing up for equality and dignity for all. We know she certainly would have opposed the next war had she lived long enough. One of Mopsy's last wishes was to place a Bernie Sanders sign in her yard, a request that has been posthumously fulfilled.

Mopsy was a friend, mentor and role model for many young people. She adored her husband, her children, her family, and friends, and made everyone feel incredibly loved.

Mopsy was a creative writer, an avid reader, an adventurer, an artist, a sailor, a mushroom hunter, and a grinning bundle of energy. She loved New Mexican sunsets, luminarias, and the sounds of the ocean.

Mopsy was predeceased by her mother, Helen Parker, and father, F. Scott Matthews. She is survived by her husband, Bruce Trigg; and her children Daniella and Nathaniel Matthews-Trigg. She is also survived by her sisters Meg Matthews-Herman and Sara-Grieco Matthews; her nieces Sarah Heltzel and Kyra Grieco and her nephew Ben Herman, and their families. Additionally, she is survived by many close cousins (including Jon Baldwin of Albuquerque), and her honorary daughters Manon Tardieu and Sruti Rao, and all the other young people she considered her children.

Mopsy requested that in lieu of flowers, donations in her memory be made to the Hesperian Foundation or to the Mopsy Matthews '73 Student Scholarship Fund of Wellesley College.

Memorials are being planned for the future in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Cape Cod, Massachusetts; to be announced.

Mopsy took enormous joy in life and lived every moment to its fullest. She was an inspiration and a blessing to everyone who knew her.

As Mopsy often said, "May the rest of your lives be the best of your lives!"



Mopsy Matthews

'73 Scholarship Fund

c/o Kat Longee

Wellesley Students Aid Society

106 Central St., Schneider 117

Wellesley, MA 02481

www.wellesley.edu/studentsaid



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