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Biography:
Elizabeth Matthews was born in Chicago, Illinois, and became an avid sailor in the 1980's. In 1993 she was involved in an automobile accident, which resulted in a severe back injury. After a year of being completely home bound, her doctor prescribed a reclining wheelchair for her. While this chair would give her more freedom, she was saddened by the fact that she would have to have a wheel chair in her life. In order to overcome that sadness, and to celebrate the arrival of her chair, she decided to have a wheel chair launching party. Much like a ship launching, Elizabeth needed a name for her chair so she could christen it with champagne. She chose Resolute, naming her wheelchair after the 1920 America's Cup winner. In addition to the dictionary definition of the word resolute and knowing she needed to be resolute to continue with her painful physical therapy, she also liked the story of the 1920 America Cup race. Resolute had lost as many of the qualifying races as she possibly could without being disqualified. And then she started winning; she came up from behind to win the silver.
When Elizabeth progressed with her therapy, and it looked as though she might someday be able to own a sailing yacht and sail again, she researched what other ships had been named Resolute, and found this story.
She lives with her husband in the Mediterranean on their Halberg Rassy, S/Y RESOLUTE.
