‘Gweedo’ loved to laugh, entertain

Heart attack claims 2002 BHS grad on tour in London, by Doug Barber Editor

It just doesn’t seem fair that Brent Matthews got only 21 years on this earth. The Blair High School graduate planned to go to college this fall and his future looked nothing but bright.

But as they struggle to cope with his death on Sunday, March 26, family and friends have taken comfort in knowing that “Gweedo” died doing what he loved – singing and entertaining.

Matthews, the son of Bill and Rhonda Matthews of Blair, was touring England, Scotland and Ireland with a performing arts group called the Young Americans when he died of a heart attack. The group, a cross-section of American youth, performs for and with students in schools around the world.

Brook Matthews, Brent’s sister, said Brent and many other members of the touring group had been fighting a virus for the duration of the tour of Great Britain, which began in January. Brent had seen a doctor, but he couldn’t shake the virus. He had been vomiting and was dehydrated because of the virus, Brook said.

On March 26, as the group was riding on a bus in London, T. J. Stoltz, Matthews’ close friend and fellow Blair High School graduate, rubbed Brent’s back to try to help him feel better. Brent felt like he was going to be sick, so the driver stopped the bus and Brent rose to get off. As he went down the steps to get off the bus, he had to sit down to catch his breath, Brook said.

Stoltz again went to rub Matthews’ back to try to make him feel better, but as he did so, Brent grabbed his hand and squeezed it, then collapsed.

A doctor who happened to be walking by stopped and administered CPR and another doctor stopped a short time later to help until an ambulance arrived. At a London hospital, emergency personnel worked on Brent for nearly an hour, but could not save him.

Autopsy reports showed that the dehydration caused a blood clot, which resulted in a heart attack, Brook said.

Brent Matthews, a 2002 graduate of Blair High School, was remembered as an energetic and upbeat young many who loved to entertain through music and acting.

“He made me laugh,” said Dan Hays, vocal music director at Blair High School when Matthews was a student there. “He was just always cheerful and if you think Gweedo, you think smiling.”

Brent got his first role in a performance in fifth grade when he played Little Pipin in the musical Pipin. When he was a seventh-grader, he played Winthrop, the lisping little boy in the high school production of The Music Man.

In high school, Matthews was active in music and drama, winning several awards along the way for his performances in plays, musicals and choirs.

It was also at BHS that Matthews experienced the Young Americans during a workshop and performance the group gave in Blair. Matthews auditioned for the Young Americans during their stop in Blair, won a spot with the group and had toured with them for three years after his graduation.

Hays, himself a former Young American who helped Matthews become a part of the group, said the organization valued Matthews’ versatility.

“The Young Americans loved him,” Hays said. “He was so good with kids and he was so versatile. He could do all the tech stuff and he also was a performer.”

The group’s current tour was scheduled to end in London on Thursday, March 30, and members had originally thought about cancelling their final performance after Matthews’ death, brook Matthews said. But they decided to go on with the show and dedicate it to Brent and his family.

“They just felt like Brent would have wanted them to complete the tour,” Brook Matthews said, “So they were going to do the final show and dedicate it to my brother.”

Brook Matthews flew to London to be on hand to represent Brent’s family for the performance.

After that, as many of the group members as possible planned to head to Blair to sing at Brent’s funeral on Monday, April 3.

“He’s my baby brother,” Brook Matthews said. “I just can’t believe it.”

“He just had a sort of childlike innocence but _______________________.

Enterprise 31 March 2006

Brent Matthews, 21

(picture)

Brent Matthews, 21, of Blair, died Sunday, March 26, 2006 in London, England. Matthews was touring with the Young Americans when he suffered a massive heart attack, the result of a virus he had been battling. Matthews died with all 40 of his fellow Young Americans at his side.

Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Monday, April 3, at First Lutheran Church in Blair, with graveside services at 2 p.m. April 4, at the Westville, Okla., Cemetery.

Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, April 2, at the Campbell-Aman Funeral Home.

Brent Matthews was born May 29, 1984, in Troy, Ill. He was a 2002 graduate of Blair High School. Upon graduation, he joined the Young Americans cast. He was in his third year of touring with the group, which represents a diverse cross-section of American youth who inspire an appreciation for music and performance in students who participate in workshops with the group, conducted in schools around the world.

His family members describe him as a “traveling minstrel.” He enjoyed performance in all its variations; singing, dancing, acting, and playing guitar. He was a member of the International Thespian Society and had won numerous awards as a member of the show choir and concert choir throughout his high school career in Blair.

Like many young people, he was an active Internet “blogger,” friends said he touched the lives of thousands of young people around the world. Notes from those who were impacted by his work as a Young American can be found by logging on to www.myspace.com/gweet.

Not only was he able to reach out to youth through his work with the Young Americans, he also traveled with the National American Miss Pageant as a stage director and sound technician. His work in the pageant world assisted his sister, Brook, as she prepared for the talent competition in the 2004 Miss America Pageant.

He is remembered as a free spirit. His family takes comfort in knowing that their “Gweedo,” (as his friends often referred to him) left this world doing exactly what he loved. His family members note they are certain “he is now busy entertaining Jesus and teaching the choirs of angels a few new tricks in heaven.”

He is survived by his parents, Billy Dale and Rhonda Matthews of Blair, sister, Brook Matthews of Omaha, grandparents, Bill and Kathleen Matthews of Westville, Okla., and Charlotte Wagehoft of Auburn, Ill.

He was preceded in death by his grandfather, Kenneth Wagehoft, and great-grandfathers, William Matthews and Gwen Mullin.

Memorials are suggested to the Brent Matthews Fund, c/o Washington County Bank, 1523 Washington Street, Blair, NE, 68008. All funds will be donated to the Young Americans to help them build a campus for future participants.

World Herald 31 March 2006

Matthews – Brent, age 21, of Blair. Survived by his parents, Billy D. and Rhonda, of Blair; sister, Brook Matthews, of Omaha; grandparents, Bill and Kathleen Matthews, Westville, OK, and Charlotte Wagehoft Blakely, Auburn, Il.

Services 10 am Mon., First Lutheran Church in Blair. Burial 2 pm Tues. in Westville, OK. Family will receive friends Sun from 4-7 pm at the Funeral Home. Memorials to the Brent Matthews Fund at Washington County Bank.

Campbell-Aman Funeral Home, Blair, NE 402-426-2191

Young entertainer lived in the moment

By Josefina Loza, World-Herald Staff Writer 3 April 2006

(two pictures)

Brent Matthews was a free spirit who believed in self-expression.

He would climb a water tower just to get a great view of the stars and throw huge bouncy balls out of a car window on an empty highway just to watch them bounce, said his father, Bill Matthews of Blair, Neb.

“It’s not the event itself. It’s the experience, the emotion of what you feel….It was that expression he relished,” his father said. “He lived in the moment.”

Brent Matthews, a 21-year-old entertainer, was touring in London with a performing arts group called the Young Americans.

Matthews suffered a heart attack and died March 26, days before the group’s last performance.

A funeral service was held, this morning at the First Lutheran Church in Blair.

Matthews, a 2002 Blair High School graduate, enjoyed singing, dancing, acting and playing guitar with the Young Americans.

He joined the Young Americans cast after high school and was in his third year of touring with them. His father said he had planned to attend college in the fall to become a sound engineer, and this was to be his last tour with the group.

All 36 of his fellow cast members were by his side when Matthews died. They performed a memorial concert Sunday at Blair High School as a tribune.

He is also survived by his mother, Rhonda Matthews of Blair; sister Brook Matthews of Omaha; and grandparents Bill and Kathleen Matthews of Westville, Okla., and Charlotte Wagehoft of Auburn, Ill.