Elizabeth Matlack Haines Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Elizabeth Haines Elizabeth M. Haines, 98, formerly of Moorestown, NJ, died peacefully on Thursday, November 8 at Medford Leas. Mrs. Haines was one of the first women to work for E.I. DuPont as a research chemist. Born in a home on the main street of Moorestown in 1914 to Samuel and Marian Matlack, Mrs. Haines could recall from her childhood the predawn procession of horse-drawn farm wagons laden with tomatoes going past her house on the way to the Campbell Soup factory in Camden. Attending Moorestown Friends School and graduating from Westtown School, Mrs. Haines went on to earn a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in chemistry from Mt. Holyoke College. In 1937 she was one of the first three women hired by the E.I. DuPont Company as a chemist. She researched paint pigments at DuPont’s Newark, DE facility, working on the upper floor of a building with no women’s bathrooms, necessitating that each day she go downstairs and across to another building or else commandeer a men’s bathroom. Mrs. Haines married a Westtown classmate, Bernard Haines, in 1941 and turned her attention to homemaking and community service residing in Maple Shade, NJ for over 30 years and then in Medford, NJ for the past 38 years. She served on the Moorestown Friends School Committee (trustees) for 28 years, and for a similar period of time as an Overseer of Moorestown Friends Meeting. She also served on the board of the Moorestown Visiting Nurse’s Association and as the longtime coordinator of the Moorestown Meeting “Sewing Group” that repaired clothing to go to the Material Aid Program of the American Friends Service Committee. Mrs. Haines was perhaps happiest outdoors with family and friends and spent many weekends in the pines at a cottage along the Rancocas Creek in Medford across from Camp Darkwaters, which was founded by her father, and on annual vacations hiking and swimming in Maine. She also enjoyed travel to various continents and parts of the United State. Mrs. Haines had many lifelong friends and is one of the last surviving members of “The Westtown Crowd,” a group of high school classmates that met for dinner at member homes each month, nine months a year, plus annual house party weekends in Ocean City and Medford, for well over 60 years. Mrs. Haines is survived by three children, Philip Haines of East Vassalboro, ME, Gail Haines of Putney, VT and Bruce Haines of Media, PA, and their partners, as well as five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 1986. A Memorial Service will be held at 2 PM, Saturday, December 1 at Medford Leas, One Medford Leas Way, Medford, NJ 08055. Memorial Contributions may be made to Moorestown Friends School, 110 East Main Street, Moorestown, NJ 08057.

Elizabeth Matlack Haines

November 8, 2012