Matthew A. Purchase, 16

Funeral services for Matthew A. Purchase, 16, of Kennard, will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 7, 2005, at Heafey-Heafey-Hoffman-Dworak-Cutler West Center Chapel in Omaha. Entombment will be at the Holy Angels Mausoleum at Resurrection Cemetery.

Matthew is survived by his parents, Dave and Irene Purchase, grandparents, Mary and Ignas Kukstys and Robert and Donna Purchase; aunts and uncles, Mary and David Hall, Lorie and Robert Davis, and Scott Purchase; and cousins, Ale, Christopher, Justin, Calen and Logan.

Memorial are suggested to the Matthew Purchase Fine Arts Scholarship Fund.

#2-World Herald 5 Jun 2005

16-year-old in fatal crash had perfect attendance

By Jason Kuiper World-Herald Staff Writer

From kindergarten through his sophomore year, Matthew Allen Purchase had never missed a day of school.

The 16-year-old was striving for perfect attendance by graduation, a family member said. But the goal won’t be reached because the Arlington High School student was killed Friday in a car accident near his home.

Authorities said Purchase pulled out of a private driveway shared by several houses and into the path of a semi that was southbound on Nebraska Highway 31. The driveway for the family’s Kennard, Neb., home is at the crest of a hill, and it appears that Purchase never saw the approaching truck, said his aunt Lori Davis of Omaha.

Purchase was flown to the Nebraska Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The semi driver, Steven Holst, 39, of Hornick, Iowa, was treated at Memorial Commuity Hospital in Blair and released.

Davis said her nephew loved school. “He really blossomed in high school.”

He was a good student, she said, and he sang in the school choir, performed in school plays and could be counted on to help build the sets they used.

Purchase always had a giving nature, his aunt said, and she thinks his generosity was paid back, in a way, after the accident. A couple, strangers, came upon the accident and drove David and Irene Purchase to the hospital where their son had been flown. The couple left their own car at the accident scene, driving the Purchases’ vehicle so they would have a way home and found a ride back to their car later.

In addition to his parents and aunt, Purchase is survived by grandparents, uncles, other aunts and cousins. The family has established a memorial at Arlington High School, the Matthew Purchase Fine Arts Scholarship Fund.

Visitation will start Monday at noon and the family will be receiving friends from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Heafey-Heafey-Hoffman West Center Chapel. Services will be 11 a.m. Tuesday at the chapel.

#3-Published in the Omaha World Herald, date unknown

Purchase, Matthew Allen, age 16 years, Kennard, NE. Survived by parents, David and Irene Purchase; grandparents: Mary and Ignas Kukstys, Robert and Donna Purchase; aunts and uncles: Mary and David Hall, Lori and Robert Davis, Scott Purchase; cousins: Ales, Christopher, Justin, Calen and Logan. Services Tuesday, 11 a.m., West Center Chapel. Entombment, Holy Angles Mausoleum, Resurrection Cemetery. Memorials to “Matthew Purchase Fine Arts Scholarship Fund.” Visitation from 12:00noon Monday, with family receiving friends fro 5:00-8:00p.m a the West Center Chapel.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~