Hope Evelyn Mathews, 94, of Garden City, Missouri, passed away on Monday, April 25, 2022 at Cass Regional Medical Center in Harrisonville, MO. Memorial services were held on Saturday, May 7, 2022  at  the  Atkinson Funeral Home in Harrisonville, MO.

Hope Mathews was born Hope (Hopie) Evelyn Hudson on October 12th, 1927 on a beautiful little island off the east coast of Canada called Prince Edward Island. Hope was the youngest of five children; her three sisters: Annie, Queenie and Ruby, and one brother, Robert. Her parents, Ruby West and Victor Hudson, owned a grocery store and gas station that was attached to the family home. Hopie always had an adventurous nature, whether it was walking for miles to ride a friend's horse, dancing with seagulls on Stanhope Beach, or later, riding her own motorcycle at a time when women just didn't do that. She attended University, wrote for P.E.I.'s local radio station and went door to door taking orders for fresh cod from her family store. She left the island, first to Toronto, where she roomed with her sister and painted flowers and vines on cracked porcelain lamps, then to Newfoundland, where she was swept off her feet and married a handsome young American, Claude (Straw) Mathews, who was stationed there with the USAF. She told stories of boating on the lake, gatherings with friends and fires on the beach. She was so happy she sparkled. Hope's first daughter, Cherese, was born in Newfoundland and, sadly, predeceases her. Her son, Claude Lee, arrived in Massachusetts, where they were transferred by the USAF. Hope and Claude settled in Missouri where their daughter, Heather, was born. Hopie raised her children with kindness and unconditional love, in Kansas City where she was a Campfire Girl leader, and supplemented the family income by renting apartments and selling Avon, and joined a camping group called the Itchy Feet. In 1977, they moved to Archie, where Hope became an LPN. She was a member of TOPS, joined a Sorority and a local art group, took art classes, entered art shows and helped organize art shows for kids. Hopie was a prolific and talented painter, whose creative mind was always coming up with new ideas. She loved to read and, since childhood, had memorized many poems. We lost this bright and beautiful woman when she passed away on April 25, 2022, in Harrisonville, MO. Hope leaves grieving: her daughter, Heather; her son, Skip and his wife, Dawn; six grandchildren, five great grandchildren and a multitude of family and friends. She may have spent more than half of her life in Missouri, USA, but she was always an island girl and so proud to be Canadian. We love you, Hopie, and we will miss you forever.