Cheryl Ann Mathews, owner of Allways Transportation and bus company Sungate Tours in the San Francisco Bay Area, passed away this past November after a long battle with cancer. She was 48.

Mathews was raised in Upstate New York with her brothers by a foster family. After high school, she traveled through the country in sales before settling down in Northern California. She began her career in the transportation industry as a taxi driver, but later became a chauffeur. She worked at Crow Canyon Country Club for several years as its transportation director before opening her own company, Allways Transportation, in 2000. In the following years, she acquired several competitors, steadily building the diverse fleet.

Mathews, a tomboy by nature, was an avid fisherman and animal lover. Those who loved her knew she was more at home under the hood of a car rather than driving due to her mind for all things mechanical. Mathews is survived by her two biological brothers, Charles and Dean Mathews; her foster father Raymond Barand; and foster sisters Heidi, Penny, and Linda. LD01/12