GRAND BANK, N.L. — Lisa Stone is heartbroken over her childhood friend Jeffrey Matthews’ tragic death in Medicine Hat, Alta. on Sunday, June 24.
“Jeffrey had a very, very big heart and would do anything for anybody,” Stone said. “You talk to anyone up here that he’s worked for, or worked with, he’s well known to be one of the hardest workers on the crew.
“He loved music. He played the guitar and everybody was always after him to pick up the guitar and play songs. He would go on and on and on. It’s just something that he really loved to do. In his younger years Jeffrey was an amazing soccer player. He was very social, extremely well liked, and was a very loving father to his daughter.”
Stone declined to discuss any details surrounding Matthews’ death citing the current investigation by the Medicine Hat Police Force's major crime section. A police report declared his death as suspicious. It stated that he was involved in a number of altercations on June 21 at around 2 a.m. near the Cecil Hotel in Medicine Hat. Matthews sought medical treatment for his injuries on June 22 and returned again the following day. He was later transported from Medicine Hat to a Calgary hospital, where he died on June 24.
Matthews, 38, moved to Brooks, Alta. when he was a teenager in the late ‘90s. Stone and her husband Steve moved there in 2005 and Matthews lived with them for a few years. He then returned home to Grand Bank but came back to Alberta just before Christmas of last year to work in the northern part of the province.
Stone and Matthews grew up together in Grand Bank.
“His mom always said I was like his sister,” Stone recalled. “That’s the kind of relationship we had. We were always there for each other, to help each other.”
Mutual friends wanted to set up an online fundraising campaign to help bring Matthews body back home to rest, but they thought Stone and her husband were the most appropriate people to set it up.
“In the past few days we’ve had so many people reach out to us and there was always the question of ‘What can we do to help, who can we pass money donations on to?’” Stone said. “I discussed it with his family and it was very heartwarming to them that there were so many people willing to do this.
“I know that just the cost of getting Jeffrey’s body home, it’s a very big expense. So we just started the campaign to alleviate the expenses incurred in Jeffrey’s journey home, plus on top of that there’s funeral expenses as well.”
Matthews’ family is waiting for news of when his body will return home before making funeral plans. Stone is planning to host a celebration of life ceremony in Brooks the same day as his service in Grand Bank.
Matthews leaves behind seven-year-old daughter Jada Lynn, sister Courtney Matthews, parents Donna Foote Matthews and Bruce Matthews, as well as a very large circle of family and friends that Stone said “stretches from coast to coast.”
The following is a link to the fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/jeffrey039s-journey-home.