Betty Matas |
| Posted 2008-11-20 by Judy Wight Branson |
| New York Daily News, New York City, New York Thursday, August 23, 2007 CATCHING CAB TO HEAVEN FOUR MONTHS AFTER HACKING IT FROM QUEENS TO ARIZONA, RETIREE DIES AT 75 IT WAS THE adventure of a lifetime - moving across country in a city cab - but just four months after she pulled up stakes in Queens and arrived in Arizona to great fanfare, Betty Matas has died. Even though her time in her desert dream home was short, the 75-year-old retiree had no regrets about leaving New York and its cold winters for sunny Sedona. "She was very happy that we came out here," said her tearful husband, Bob Matas, who made the epic journey by cab with her in April. "She loved the mountains. She loved the people," said Matas, 72. Betty Matas, who suffered from heart and kidney problems, fell ill and was hospitalized for two weeks before she died Monday, her husband said. The widower sounded stunned at the loss of his traveling partner. "We thought we would have a few years here," he said. The Matases became instant celebrities last spring when the Daily News chronicled their plan to travel to Arizona in a yellow cab. Life-long New Yorkers who never learned to drive, they didn't want to put their beloved cats through the ordeal of a long flight. So they hired Douglas Guldeniz to chauffeur them in his taxi for $3,000, and the trio spent six days and 2,500 miles together in April. The cabbie was sad to hear the news about his most famous fare yesterday. "My feeling is very bad right now," he told the Daily News. "She passed away really early." A frail woman who walked slowly, Betty Matas nevertheless displayed the enthusiasm of a schoolgirl about her trek through 10 states. A one-time executive secretary for an advertising firm, she chatted with everyone from truck drivers in Virginia to a teen waitress in a tiny Texas town. "I always was adventuresome," she said along the way. When the Matases arrived in Sedona, they were met by a throng of reporters and the town's mayor, who had read about their trip. She will be laid to rest in Sedona, following a wake today at Greer's Mortuary and a funeral Mass tomorrow morning. |
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