Charlene Matko

Charlene was a poet and an artist who loved animals and nature. She was devoted to her mother, Dorothy Matko, who is also buried at Hart Island (Plot 333, Section 1, Grave 5). They shared an apartment at 1 Arden Street in Inwood, New York City, and Charlene grew up there with her parents. Her father died when she was a teenager, and after Dorothy’s passing in 2008, Charlene continued living there alone.

For four years starting in 1976, she was my grade-school babysitter while my parents worked full time. I remember eagerly waiting for her to pick me up from school. She took me to museums and on nature walks in the local parks, and we spent hours doing craft projects together. She nurtured  my creativity and confidence to pursue a career as an architect. After graduating from college and taking a position with a large architecture firm in NYC,  I stayed in touch with her for nearly three decades. 

After I married, my husband and I moved to Fort Lee, NJ, just across the Hudson River from Charlene’s neighborhood. I would sometimes stop to visit her on my way home from meetings with my clients in Westchester. She was always eager to hear about my life and my projects, and we spent many happy hours together.

Charlene was a talented oil painter and a deeply spiritual person. She was intelligent, charming, and stylish. She attended grade school at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs at 71 Arden Street, near her apartment. She often visited the church to pray and light candles for loved ones. Her faith was important to her, as was the belief that she would one day reunite with her parents and her beloved dogs, Sidney and Butch. 

In the (roughly) two years leading up to our last meeting, I sensed a growing sadness in her. She spoke of grief from missing her parents and feelings of isolation in her apartment. She also mentioned anxiety over possibly losing the apartment due to financial and legal issues. Our talks became less frequent as the durations before she returned my messages became longer. 

The last time I visited, I noticed she’d lost an extreme amount of weight. I started to worry about her but was assured she was OK and that her weight loss was intentional. 

Then one day In 2016, I got a voicemail from her from a number I didn’t recognize. She sounded distressed, said she borrowed a friend’s phone, and that she needed help, though her message didn’t specify why. There was a lot of anxiety in her voice. I called the number back many times but only got generic voicemail with no response. Eventually, I got a recording that the number was not in service. 

Concerned, I drove to her apartment and was surprised to learn she no longer lived there. A new tenant answered the door and said she recently moved, but did not know where to. 

I had no way of reaching her. I didn’t know of any people she might have been in touch with and she had no living family that I was aware of. I continued searching for her and finally found her name in the Hart Island directory. 

I am shocked and deeply saddened to learn of her passing. To this day, I don’t know what happened to her following the message she left or what circumstances led to her life ending in a New York City hospital with no recorded birth date. 

The memory of her message has stayed with me ever since. I wish I hadn’t missed her call and had been able to reach her back. My mind looks for a moment it can rewind to, because having a “what if” is more bearable than accepting that some things happened outside my control when I wish I’d done more to try to locate her. 

I do not presume to know what lies beyond this life, but I hope Charlene is reunited with her parents and her beloved dogs, no longer lonely, blessing heaven with her beautiful paintings.