Matkins: 'heartbeat of Broughton'

Less than a week after she was named teacher of the year at Broughton High School, Margaret Matkins' sudden death at age 35 has devastated the school that was the center of her life.

Matkins died Thursday after suffering a stroke Tuesday.

Her students and colleagues say her room was a popular hangout for students, and her enthusiasm inspired other teachers.

She spent long evenings helping student leaders put on homecoming parades and fund-raisers. She promoted a yearly camp until it was so popular the school had to develop a lottery system to choose which students could go.

She met her husband and most of her best friends at the school.

"She was really the heartbeat of Broughton," said Hargrave McElroy, head of the humanities department. "She was connected to the school on so many levels."

Colleagues say Matkins was a rare breed, a teacher who was personable and popular with kids but also organized and devoted to academics.

"From the very beginning, I just knew she was special," said Diane Payne, who as principal hired Matkins. Payne retired earlier this year. "She just has a way of connecting with people."

Matkins' ability to oversee student government and other activities while teaching challenging classes impressed her colleagues.

"I can't remember anybody having a greater impact on the quality of kids' lives at our school," said fellow teacher Dave Corsetti, whose daughter was a flower girl at Matkins' wedding. "She was the exact opposite of the show-up-at-8 a.m., leave-at-3 p.m. type of teacher," Corsetti said. "She was more show up at 6 a.m. and leave at 9 p.m. after the football game."

Matkins, who grew up in Charlotte, planned to be a teacher from a young age, said her father, Ronald Propst, adding that Matkins was a lot like her late mother, who taught nursing.

"It was their ability to give, to be concerned about others," he said.

Matkins earned her teaching degree at N.C. State University on a teaching fellows scholarship and taught briefly in Hickory before coming to Broughton. She later earned a master's degree from NCSU and was an avid Wolfpack fan.

Her marriage to Richard Matkins, an English teacher at the school, was a Broughton love story. They met there and dated secretly for a while, then openly, friends said.

They announced their engagement at an end-of-the-year faculty party and got married on the first day of spring break. The chairman of the home economics department made Matkins' wedding gown.

She also dedicated her free time to youth activities. She worked as a counselor at Camp Kanata near Wake Forest and with young swimmers as a coach and pool manager.

Each year, she took groups of Broughton students to Camp Kanata to practice leadership skills. At first, only a few of the school's most ambitious students would go. But Matkins tried to open it up to more students and was so successful that the program now has a waiting list.

She also worked with the youth and government program in which students would take part in a mock legislative session.

"She loved to help children understand how big this world is and that we can make it a better place by getting involved," said Carol Allen, an English teacher who taught a course with Matkins that combined world literature and history.

Richard Hamilton, director of advancement and planning at Camp Kanata, said her popularity among Broughton students was legendary.

As the story goes, Hamilton said, she and her husband would set aside certain days to leave school by 4 p.m. Instead, Richard Matkins would end up waiting in her room for an hour as a parade of students came and went.

"It was Grand Central Station in there," Hamilton said.

One of those students, Broughton senior Molly Skinner, saw Matkins every morning for homeroom, had her as a teacher for two history classes and worked with her on the student council. Skinner also would go to Matkins' room to eat lunch and went to her house for dinner once with a group of students.

"She was a lot more to me than my teacher," Skinner said. "She was kind of like a big sister."

Along with her husband and father, Matkins is survived by her sister, Cindy Propst, and two brothers, Mark and Tim Propst.

A visitation will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Brown-Wynne Funeral Home in Raleigh. The funeral will be held at 5 p.m. Monday at Edenton Street United Methodist Church.