Skip to main content

A Tribute to
Matthew Colson

Our beloved son, Matthew Thomas Colson, went home to be be with God way too soon, at the young age of 18. This page is a tribute to him and we hope to record some of the music he wrote and share it here as well. The logo used on this website is a picture that Matthew drew and left on my desk while he was waiting to go home one day after school.

Tribute Video

Below is the third part of Matthew’s Remembrance Video, meticulously prepared by our good friend, Paul Holtz. The tattoo you will see on Matthew’s arm is in memory of Matthew’s Cousin, Jonathan Erekson who passed on to eternal life at the young age of 14. It’s a rendering of a pocket watch that Jonathan had owned that is still with Matthew. Matthew had only been playing the banjo for about 6 days when this video was taken. 

Words of Remembrance

Matthew’s Funeral Mass

October 14, 2021, The Church of Holy Apostles, McHenry, Illinois

A lot of kids know what they want to be when they grow up, either at an early age or in their first year or two in high school, but Matthew didn’t really know. As we heard last night from our good friend Tim, at one time, he talked about being a firefighter. He also talked about being a professional chef (I guess because he was really good at making ramen noodles at 3 in the morning) He talked about being a veterinarian, playing music, doing music production. Matthew searched for and watched tons of YouTube videos of amazing musicians that he was blown away by. He would send them to me often and many of them blew me away too!

Matthew thought he would never be good enough to play music professionally because of this, so he said that maybe just being a real estate agent sounds good. Above all, he always said that he wanted to be famous. He looked up to several famous people, which lately, included mostly his favorite musicians and when he was younger, famous skateboarders. He loved seeing what kind of cars celebrities drove and found out all about their jewelry and how much it cost. He was also obsessed with their shoes. HE LOVED SHOES! I’m the kind of guy who buys one pair of dress shoes and one pair of sneakers as cheap as I can get them and wears them for a year.

Last night, we shared a video from Matthew’s friend and former AMC Coworker, Austin, who said in his video, and I quote… “He was just a kind person, like genuinely kind; and I feel like that’s rare; to NOT have an ounce of mean in you, but Matt didn’t, he was pure kindness.” This was really the thread from last night. Kindness.

Everyone who knew Matthew that either spoke, or came up to talk to us said that Matthew was one of the kindest, most loving people that they ever met. Kristen and I have to agree. As was mentioned last night, he never stopped asking Kristen how she felt and told her constantly that he was sorry she was in so much pain because of her car accident 14 years ago. There’s nothing that makes Kristen and I prouder about our son. This is what it’s about: Kindness, Love, Compassion, Care, Forgiveness & Mercy… Sadly, our world has forgotten many of these values.

It’s no coincidence that God led us to The Church of Holy Apostles across the country. After all, Matthew… Thomas… Colson… Two Apostles in his name. Matthew was also baptized by a priest who is now a bishop, another Apostle. He cried through the whole thing! God led us to this church with THE MOST AMAZING pastor who could just love us through this. Fr Paul, I know you don’t like to be thanked, but there is no way we could get through this without you. We love you and so did Matthew.

We even have a Deacon who plays the banjo!! The banjo that Matthew loved so much. Deacon Curt helped us pick it out, set it up, and wrote a few notes and put them in his banjo case about how to tune it. It was an absolute honor to have Deacon Curt share a song on the banjo last night, as well as our great friend, and one of my brothers and mentors, Tom Booth who cam from Tucson, Arizona to help lead the music today. We are so humbled and honored to have all these amazing Composers and Musicians who write MOST of the music that we and so many other churches sing at Mass. Every one of them dropped everything and flew across the country to be here for us… and most especially to honor Matthew by learning and playing the songs HE LOVED. WE ARE SO GRATEFUL.

2020 was a horrible year for so many. We all hoped 2021 would be so much better… and then this… COVID was a wake up call. This is another wake up call. We have no doubt at all where Matthew is now. He is with our loving Savior and is out of pain. He has no more worry or anxiety. He is at peace.

The first thing I saw after Matthew had gone home was a beautiful Monarch butterfly that literally flew right by my face, stopped for a moment, flapping its wings and then flew away. I have never seen a butterfly here in Illinois…Someone last night shared with me a very powerful experience they had to do with the same butterfly after Matthew had passed.

A few days after Matthew’s passing I was talking to John Angotti who you just heard sing “I Can Only Imagine” so beautifully. I was drinking my coffee, walking in the backyard and telling John about what a kind, loving son Matthew was and how upset I was that many people did not treat him with that same kindness. Out of the blue, John said to me: “Matthew is a lone flower growing in a garden.” I gasped and asked him to repeat what he had said. He said it again, “Matthew is a lone flower growing in a garden.” The reason I gasped is because we have a garden in our backyard that we just haven’t had time to get to planting. Each week, when I mow the grass, I just go over the weeds and mow them down. A week or so before Matthew passed, I noticed a beautiful flower growing in the garden. It grew very large and then bloomed. I was literally standing right by this flower when John said what he said. A few days later, I got a card from a friend who said they felt drawn to send this EXACT card. You may have guessed that there was the same exact flower and the same color and type of butterfly on the card. None of this is an accident.

So many people have been touched by our wonderful, loving, beautiful boy. It was amazing last night to see all the “mostly teenage” coworkers that Matthew made such a huge impression on. After graduating high school in May, he only worked at one place for about 3 months and had only been at Walmart for a little over a month. One coworker told us last night: “Everybody walks by me and ignores me, except for Matthew.” He said that Matthew is the only one who EVER has stopped to ask him how his day was. He said “He looked me in my eyes and genuinely cared and asked me how I was all the time.”

These are not difficult things to do and make such an impact on people. It is my sincerest hope that people who met Matthew and hopefully, all those listening to these words right now, will realize that everyone is going through something we probably know nothing about and needs love, mercy compassion and kindness. The kindness and compassion that our son Matthew showed. Earlier, I said that Matthew wanted to be famous. Matthew, you are famous! Not because of fortune or prestige that many others have. Your best friend, Franky said last night that you saved her life multiple times. As we heard in today’s Gospel Reading: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Be kind, be good to one another.

Please let his legacy be that we all accept one another for who they are… and all that they are… like Matthew did. Love people where they are at. Accept them. Don’t judge them and walk with them as Christ did and let Him be the judge, not us. One of the lyrics in one of Matthew’s favorite songs says: “Everyone’s born with self worth, how easily it turns to doubt.” And another of his favorites that we sang last night and will sing again at Matthews place of rest says:

“Hopefully we had a damn good life while we had it, but hopefully, if we’re lucky, we’ll die with dignity.”

24K Casket – Song by Amigo the Devil

Matthew, we had a damn good life… and you… you died with dignity. I love you son and your mother and I are so proud to have shared 18 wonderful years with you. Until we see you again, our Beautiful Boy.