Former Moorestown Teacher Who Was Ahead Of Her Time Passes

MOORESTOWN, NJ — Rita Matz (nee Tursi), 93, formerly of Moorestown, NJ, Forked River, NJ, and Hutchinson Island, Florida, died on Tuesday, March 3, 2020.

Beloved wife of Henry. Devoted mother of Wendy Moragne, of Moorestown, NJ, (husband, Perry (deceased)), Beverly Tadeu of Bethesda, MD, (husband, Mack), and Lori Salemi of Dover, DE, (husband, Robert). Also survived by 9 beloved grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.

Rita Matz was born in Camden, NJ, and graduated from Camden High School in 1944. After graduation from Temple University, she taught in the Camden Public School District for seven years, then in the Moorestown Public School District in Moorestown, NJ, where she lived for 37 years and where she taught for 19 years.

Mrs. Matz was a beloved and dedicated 1st grade teacher at Roberts Elementary School in Moorestown. She created a magical environment for learning, her classroom filled with hands-on learning projects, with the children’s work on the walls, windows, even hanging from the ceiling.

She had an open classroom with various learning stations long before the “open classroom” concept was popular. The Moorestown Public School system sent Rita to England to learn even more about this learning style and present the concepts to the Moorestown teachers in a system-wide teacher education program.

Mrs. Matz was remarkable in that she could remember most all of her individual students, who they were and how they learned, decades after she taught them.

Rita retired from teaching in 1981 at 55. She and her fun-loving adventure partner and husband, Henry, purchased an airstream, and together, they traveled around the US, Canada, and Mexico for the next five years until they found their “Paradise Island”, Nettles Island, in Jensen Beach, FL. Together, they moved to Florida and resided in the winter at Nettles Island and summer in Forked River, NJ.

Rita and Henry loved to have people around them. They were the hub of a large and extended family who loved them dearly. The house was always open to everyone, regardless of how many were there.

Summer in Forked River would find Rita’s children and grandchildren all together for days and weeks at a time, 18 people sleeping in every nook and cranny, with Rita at the stove with a huge smile cooking up a storm, feeding everyone, organizing projects for the children as only a first grade teacher could do, while Henry took over the crabbing, fishing, boating, swimming and other outdoor adventures.

Rita had a love of music and played the piano beautifully, often with Henry singing at her side. We love her dearly and will miss her beyond measure.

Mass of Christian burial is Saturday, March 14, 2020, 10:30 a.m. at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, 42 W. Main St. Moorestown, NJ. Visitation is 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Saturday at the Lewis Funeral Home, 78 E. Main St, Moorestown, NJ. Interment Mt. Carmel Cemetery, Moorestown, NJ
The family requests in lieu of flowers, please make donations to St. Jude’s Children's Cancer Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105 https://www.stjude.org/ or Delaware Hospice, 911 S. DuPont Highway, Dover, DE, 19901. www.delawarehospice.org.

Condolences may be left at www.lewisfuneralhomemoorestown.com.