Anne Coulon Matthies

Anne Coulon Matthies, aged 91 passed away peacefully at her home on August 26, surrounded by loved ones. Places she called home and spread her love included Needham, Cataumet, Dover, Aiken, SC and Sierra Leone.  Born in Boston, Annie, as she was known, grew up in family-owned hotels and attended Ursuline Academy and Bradford College. In 1953 she married Raymond W. Matthies of Needham where they raised their five children, Suzanne Sullivan of Falmouth, Julie Schleckser of Salem, Eric Matthies of Millis, Kurt Matthies of Needham and Kristin Cerrato of Medfield.

Annie was deeply involved in her community, starting a Drop-in Club for local teens in the 60’s and participating in local theater groups including Needham Community Theater, Needham Youth summer Theater, Wig and Whiskers. She was both on stage and behind the scenes acting, singing, set design and construction and directing occasionally. She designed ten floats for the July 4th parade earning recognition and awards.  A talented pianist, she exposed her family to all kinds of music, show tunes, Gershwin, Dixieland jazz and classical.

In 1970, she joined the Charles River Creative Arts Summer Program in Dover as a counselor, where she taught theatrical make-up, set design, and construction. She also took part in the shows, even performing a G-rated strip tease for the campers.

She loved animals and hosted a menagerie of horses, ponies, dogs, cats, goats, birds, raccoons, iguanas, rabbits, guinea pigs and ducks. There was always room for one more and this extended to people, especially young ones. Over the years, the family hosted five foreign students, reflecting on her mission to broaden their horizons and embrace different cultures.  She often took her kids on trips to NYC. Eric and Julie had the special opportunity to backpack with her through Europe, visiting relatives and friends, and traveling by train across 10 countries.

She wore many hats and held various jobs throughout her life, including office manager, makeup artist, switchboard operator, Easter bunny, activity director, clown, seamstress, waitress and her favorite a witch.  She worked for Boston Children’s Museum designing their haunted house 2 years in a row.

In her mid-life, she felt a calling to volunteer work and joined the Peace Corps, where she helped build wells in Sierra Leone and assisted local women in starting a doll-making business for self-sufficiency. Many of these women remain close to our family. Later, she joined Catholic Relief and served in Somalia during a turbulent time and captured in the film Black Hawk Down. She and her longtime partner Fred Muzi spent the next 30 years horseback riding, travelling the world and enjoying family. She was the oldest of five children, Julie B. Coulon of Ft. Lauderdale FL, Carol Sue Fine “Susie” (predeceased) of Nantucket, Emile P. Coulon of Wayland MA (predeceased) and Maurice W. Coulon “Buzzy” of Hingham. She leaves behind f ive children, twelve grandchildren and thirteen great grandchildren, all of whom she was deeply devoted to and adored her. She was a unique, irreplaceable woman and will be sorely missed by all. 

Please join family and friends for a Celebration of Life for Anne C Matthies at the Needham Golf Club 49 Green Street
Needham, MA 02492 on Sunday, October 6th at 12:00 pm.

Lunch will be served following remembrances.

A donation in memory of Anne to the following charities would be appreciated.

This is the Givelify link below:

Join me in supporting Friendship Baptist Church. It's really easy through @Givelify https://giv.li/zel318. Let's do #MoreGoodTogether.

All correspondence should be mailed to:

Friendship Baptist Church
P.O. Box 3124
Aiken SC 29802
United States

Or the Bourne Conservation Turst

There are many Ways of Giving to the Bourne Conservation Trust.
• The easiest is a cash/check sent with printed BCT Donation Form (https://bourneconservationtrust.org/bct_donation.pdf) to:
Bourne Conservation Trust, PO Box 203, Cataumet, MA 02534-0203
• Make an online donation via
Network for Good https://www.nfggive.com/charity-list?query=Bourne%20Conservation%20Trust