Rebecca Burrum Matlock (1928–2019) was an American

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

and the wife of former U.S. Ambassador Jack F. Matlock, Jr.

Biography

Born Rebecca Inez Burrum in

Manchester, Tennessee Manchester is a city in Coffee County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 12,213 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Coffee County. The city is located halfway between Nashville and Chattanooga on Interstate 24. Manchester i ...

to Hugh H. Burrum and Leona M. Graham, she lived in Waverly and

Gallatin, Tennessee Gallatin is a city in and the county seat of Sumner County, Tennessee. The population was 30,278 at the 2010 census and 44,431 at the 2020 census. Named for United States Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin, the city was established on ...

. As an undergraduate at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

she met and married Jack F. Matlock, Jr. After graduation, they moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

where both took graduate studies at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. In 1953 they moved to

Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover is a town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university Dartmouth College, the U.S. Army Corps of Eng ...

, where the first three of their children (James, Hugh, and Nell) were born. In 1956 the Matlocks joined the

Foreign Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

and were posted in following years to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Oberammergau Oberammergau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany. The small town on the Ammer River is known for its woodcarvers and woodcarvings, for its NATO School, and around the world for its 380-year tradition of ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

, and

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

. Two more children were born during their first tour in Moscow (David and Joseph).Squire, Patrici
Interview with Rebecca Burrum Matlock
Frontline Diplomacy, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (January 11, 1990) The Matlocks served four tours in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, between 1961 and 1991, and during that time she travelled to 14 of the 15

Union Republics The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Union Republics ( rus, Сою́зные Респу́блики, r=Soyúznye Respúbliki) were national-based administrative units of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( ...

.Rebecca Matlock Exhibit
The Princeton Packet (March 19, 1999) They were posted to Moscow in 1961, 1974, 1981, and finally in 1987 when Jack Matlock was appointed U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union. During their final tour they lived at

Spaso House Spaso House is a listed Neoclassical Revival building at No. 10 Spasopeskovskaya Square in Moscow. It was originally built in 1913 as the mansion of the textile industrialist Nikolay Vtorov. Since 1933, it has been the residence of the ...

in Moscow until 1991 and their retirement from the Foreign Service. After leaving the Foreign Service they lived for five years in

North Stonington, Connecticut North Stonington is a town in New London County, Connecticut which was split off from Stonington in 1724. The population was 5,149 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of whi ...

, and New York City; and then moved to

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

. In 2009 she was named Honorary Trustee of the Friends of Davis International Center of Princeton University. In later years the Matlocks divided their time between a home in Princeton and her family farm in

Booneville, Tennessee Booneville is an unincorporated community in Lincoln County, Tennessee, in the United States. History A post office called Booneville was established in 1869, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1905. The community was named for ...

. On November 9, 2019, Ambassador Matlock posted publicly on his

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

: "My beloved wife of 70 years, Rebecca Burrum Matlock, passed away this morning in Duke University Hospital." The cause of death has not yet been made public.

Sarah Caldwell biography

Matlock served on the board of the

Opera Company of Boston The Opera Company of Boston was an American opera company located in Boston, Massachusetts, that was active from the late 1950s through the 1980s. The company was founded by American conductor Sarah Caldwell in 1958 under the name Boston Opera Gr ...

and interviewed director

Sarah Caldwell Sarah Caldwell (March 6, 1924March 23, 2006) was an American opera conducting, conductor, impresario, and stage director. Early life Caldwell was born in Maryville, Missouri, and grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She was a child prodigy and ...

over the course of several years to produce her biography, ''Challenges: A Memoir of My Life in Opera''.Blassnigg, Katharina
Challenges: A Memoir of My Life in Opera (review)
Leonardo Reviews (December 1, 2008)

Photography exhibits

Matlock has had more than 50 exhibits of her photographs, as well as a series of exhibits by photographer Donald Schomacker.

Published works

At Spaso House: People and meetings: Notes of the wife of an American ambassador
(in Russian) Transl. from English by T. Kudriavtseva, Moscow: EKSMO, Algorithm, 2004
Challenges: A Memoir of My Life in Opera
by Caldwell, Sarah with Matlock, Rebecca, Middletown, Conn. : Wesleyan University Press, 2008

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matlock, Rebecca 1928 births 2019 deaths Photographers from Tennessee People from Manchester, Tennessee Columbia University alumni Duke University alumni American women photographers People from Waverly, Tennessee People from Gallatin, Tennessee 21st-century American women