Mary E. Procter & William Matuszeski · 1997 Honorees

Find two people, one from Boston, Massachusetts; the other from Wilmington, Delaware; both with a streak of cultural diversity, and have them meet in the halls of OMB. With luck, the result will be a couple like Mary Procter and Bill Matuszeski.

The Hill has been Bill and Mary’s home for over 20 years. They cherish its streetscapes, people, and institutions. It is where they raised their children, Janina, Adam, and Thad; all of whom are in college. It is where they volunteer.

Mary is Friendship House’s new Director of Planning and Evaluation, and Bill directs the Chesapeake Bay Program for EPA. They are proof that careers and volunteerism are mutually enhancing. They know that leadership skills gained professionally apply to Bill’s stint on the Capitol Hill Day School Board and both Bill and Mary’s on the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop Board, as well as to organizational work with volunteers. They also inject into the workplace the fun inherent in the highly profitable fund raisers they’ve undertaken to support, among others, the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, and the Montessori, Brent, and Capitol Hill Day schools.

Two events forged this successful team: co-authoring Gritty Cities, their book about historic industrial towns; and becoming parents of three children under the age of two when the twins arrived. According to Bill, “You have to learn to work as a team.” Mary adds that volunteering together means not having to be apart as much during a project and being able to share the gossip with a trusted partner. 

Mary’s the planner, the detail person. Bill handles packaging and marketing and describes himself as “cool in the clutch.” To Mary he is the critical glue that holds the final week together when “anything that can go wrong” does. Of all their projects, Bill and Mary have enjoyed most watching the Arts Workshop's Winter Revelry fundraiser become a Hill institution, one that knits the community together.

Bill and Mary themselves are an institution, one that provides us countless opportunities to volunteer, that has persuaded us to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for our neighborhood organizations, and that has enabled us to have fun in the doing.