Matasha Wynette Allen, 43, Ypsilanti, MI, died Tuesday, January 28, 2025 suddenly and expectedly.  A native of Shelbyville, she was the daughter of Linda Allen and the late George Sheckles.  She graduated from Fisk University in Nashville, TN.  She was employed at the Jewish Community Center in Ann Arbor, MI for over ten  years.  Here are the comments from Jewish Community Center about her time with them:

Matasha came to interview with us at the JCC in the fall of 2011.  I remember being struck by the way she carefully considered her words as she answered our questions.  And although others may have found it off putting to wait for a response, I found it to be the hallmark of an incredibly thoughtful person.

The Baby Bunnies were Matasha's first placement at the JCC Early Childhood Program.  Over the next few years, she would work with a number of infant and young toddler groups.  But one summer, as Matasha transitioned her charges to the Zebra room, our older two-year old room, something just clicked, and it was clear that this was the age group that she could best bring her unique gifts to.  This is a group that needs soeone who can allow the children the room to still be toddlers, while supporting the new cognitive development characteristic of preschoolers. Someone with patience, humor, and creativity who is intentional in their every interaction.

Over the many years Matasha was with the Zebras, the room was full of rhythm and song.  After having some Hebrew-speaking children in her class, Matasha started taking Hebrew lessons in order to support her families better.  She had a deep understanding of Jewish culture and traditions and related them to her own deeply held faith.  Her voice was of course a mainstay of our Friday Shabbat Sings, and her students often accompanied the group with rhythm sticks.  And perhaps the greatest lesson she imparted to her students was Tzelem Elohim - that we are all created in the image of the divine, and that we are all deserving of dignity and respect.  She set the example of both demanding dignity and giving respect every day.

In January 2020, on the MLK Jr. day, right before the Pandemic, Matasha presented her first Freedom Songs Sing Along, with a fellow teacher accompanying her on guitar.  About 25 people gathered in a small lounge at the JCC to sing along with Matasha.  The next two years of the pandemic, Matasha kept her Freedom Songs going online.  In 2023, in person again, Matasha began to recruit more collaborators, and in that year she would be joined by the Ypsilanti Youth Choir.  In 2024 she brought even more people together, collaborating with even more partners to add the instruments of the Ypsilanti Youth Orchestra (of which she was President), and a family voting rights workshop developed by friends at Hebrew Day School of Ann Arbor. But the most special Sing Along she led was the one held the MLK Jr day shortly before her passing.  In addition to everyone who had already been involved, she recruited volunteers from many community partner organizations to lead activities ranging from Freedom poetry reading, to mural painting.

Matasha touched the lives of so many families, and brought so many organizations together in pursuit of her vision.  She will be long emembered by the Ann Arbor Jewish community.

In the words of Pastor Herman Love III with Life Touch Ministries Church of God in Christ in Canton, MI, her accomplishments were listed as follows:

Volunteer Chaplain for the Washtenaw County Juvenile Detention Center

Operations Director for the Ypsilanti Youth Orchestra

Long time employee for the Jewish Community Center as a Co-Teacher

Created a 1 Woman Show bringing awareness to the life of Fannie Lou Hammer and donated the proceeds to her Fannie Lou Hammer's only surviving daughter.

Assistant Pastor at Life Touch Ministries Church of God in Christ

Sunday School Superintendent @ Life Touch Ministries

Assistant Sunday School Field Rep for the Michigan Eastern Jurisdiction COGIC

Sunday School Teacher/Reviewer for the Church of God in Christ denomination

Survivors include her mother, Linda Allen of Lexington; four sisters, Carletta Allen of Louisville and Shemeka Lancaster (J.J.) of Frankfort; Ivey Davis and Kyla Sykes; her grandmother, Pamela Allen of Lexington and a host of church and JCC family and friends in Michigan.

Funeral services will be at 12 p.m., Friday, February 7, 2025 at Clay Street Baptist Church, 1940 Midland Trail, Shelbyville, KY 40065 with visitation after 10 a.m.  Pastor Herman Love III will deliver the eulogy.  Burial will follow at Evergreen Memory Gardens in Lexington, KY.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Morton-Beckley Funeral Directors.  Online condolences may be expressed at www.morton-beckley.com.