Mary E. Matthews lives in a house full of angels. That’s 1,800 angels to be exact, made of a variety of materials from porcelain to wood.
The 75-year-old Matthews, who lives near White Rock Lake, is founder of the Angel Collectors Club of America, which recently celebrated its 20th birthday. The club has more than 2,000 members throughout the world, Matthews says, as well as an active local Lone Star State Chapter that meets the last Friday of each month.
The club began when Matthews wrote the Dallas Morning News and the now defunct Dallas Times Herald to tell them about her angel collection. A Waco woman read the articles about Matthews and sent word to her friend, Theo Marie Sponsler, an angel collector in Colorado.
Sponsler and Matthews became pen pals and went in search of others who shared their interest. They wrote letters to newspapers across the United States looking for angel collectors, and clubs soon began forming, Matthews says.
“It’s really a lovely hobby,” Matthews says. “People will say: ‘I saw an angel today and thought of you.’”
Matthews received her first angel nearly 30 years ago when her family was living in France. Her teenage daughter bought the angel in a dime store and gave it to Matthews as a gift.
“It was a tiny cotton and Styrofoam hideous thing,” Matthews says. “We decided there must be prettier angels than that.”
The mother and daughter began looking for angels, and Matthews’ collection grew. In 1970, the family moved to Dallas, where Matthews ran a handmade greeting card company for a number of years.
Last year, Matthews retired as director of the Lone Star State Chapter, handing over responsibilities to friend Alice Ann Parsons, but Matthews is still active as secretary. Both women have exhibited their angel collections at Dallas branch libraries.
Chapter meetings last from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and begin with a brief business discussion followed by show-and-tell or craft-making session. Sometimes, a special program, such as a book review or lunch outing, is scheduled. The meeting place rotates among members’ homes.
The group’s Christmas party is Dec. 27, and a Lutheran minister will lecture about St. Michael and his cherubs Jan. 31. A national convention is scheduled for September 1997 in Kansas City, Mo.
Dues are $15 nationally and $7 locally per year. The money pays for club rosters and newsletters. The club also holds fund-raisers and donates to the Make a Wish Foundation.
For information, call Matthews at 214-324-1053 or Parsons at 214-339-5902.
