[1][2][3][4] Matthew was born in Majuro and was educated at Uliga Elementary School in Majuro and Mizba High School in Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia before graduating from Defiance College in Ohio in the United States in 1976.
[13] She challenged the result in the High Court of the Marshall Islands, claiming that postal ballots had not been properly certified, but was unsuccessful.
[14] After her 2011 defeat, Matthew was appointed to the Board of Regents of the College of the Marshall Islands.
[2] In February 2016, she was appointed to the Cabinet of new President Hilda Heine as Minister for Internal Affairs.
[16] In June 2017, she raised concern about the rate of illegal adoptions from the Marshall Islands to the United States through Hawaii, resulting in the U.S. Embassy flagging it as an issue of concern and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser publishing a front-page story about the issue.