Michael "Skip" S. Matthews

Michael “Skip” Matthews departed this world early Monday morning, Aug. 12. He entered it 61 years ago, on Feb. 5, 1958, in Pomona, California, growing up in Orange County, the sixth of seven siblings.

He graduated from Sonora High School in La Habra in 1976. In 1977, he made a memorable trip to Germany. His love of antiques led him to gravitate to antique malls. When seeking work, and in his free time, his passion for fishing would find him traveling up and down the California coast seeking the best of catches.

In 1985, while working at King Richards Antique Mall, he noticed a “slightly” older lady come in to rent a space, and by the time she left he was telling fellow employees he had just met the woman he was going to marry. He was right, and on Oct. 12, 1986, he wed Kathleen Chiswell in Los Angeles. With mischievous joy, he would tell everyone it was a perfect match, her being an antique, he a collectible. Need I mention he had a unique sense of humor?

He was also proud and delighted to announce he had become a husband, father and grandfather at the same time. Two years later, when the employer he had been working for decided to close, he and Kathy decided it was the perfect time to take a vacation and check out southern Oregon, where they thought they might like to live “someday.”

Within the week they were there, Skip got a job, and they soon moved to Grants Pass, Oregon. That job only lasted two years, but the next, with the Oregon State Military Department, lasted over 20 years, requiring that he transfer to St. Helens and then, in 1994, to Camp Rilea in Warrenton. Here he found the perfect place to again pursue his love of fishing, and to go antiquing with his wife.

Skip’s other loves were simple: family and friends, camping, music and life. He attended First Congregational United Church of Christ (UCC) in Astoria until it closed, then Warrenton United Methodist Church until he passed. The last few years brought hardships and hurdles into his life, but faith and perseverance were the tools he always seemed to carry along with him.

Those traits and his exceptional, sometimes outrageous, sense of humor, his pride in doing his jobs well and his willingness to be of help whenever he could, drew people to him as fast friends. To say he will be missed doesn’t cover it.

Those he has left behind include his wife, Kathy; a brother, David Matthews (Kristiana); sisters, Candy Nash (Jim), Lori Smith, Bobbie McMillan (Mark) and Nancy Thomas; acquired son and daughter, David Burgess (Monica) and Sheri Gourley (Fred); five grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews; and his other best girl and fur-baby, “Pippi Shortstockings.”

Preceding him in death were his father, Harry Shaw; mother, Helen Matthews; sister, Mary Schwebs; nephew, Brian McMillian; and grandson, Jason Barker.

A short memorial service will be held on the river on the dock at the end of Sixth Street on Friday, Aug. 23, at 4:30 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, he would wish donations be made to Oregon Dachshund Rescue in Portland.