Comments on: Matthew Garber

By: Doris Yoder-Neighbor and Bosslerite

Doris Yoder-Neighbor and Bosslerite — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:00:26 +0000

I am one of the Garber famly’s closest neighbors. I have known Matt most of his life. How I enjoyed spring days when Matt practiced hymns for Sunday Worship and I could hear the piano through the open window. Matt, as well as his brothers and sisters, have done my mowing over the years. Matt was amazing as he did little extras that he noticed needed to be done. He grew a wonderful, very productive patch of strawberries on my hillside for quite a few years.
Thanks Todd and Debbie for cultivating Matt’s many talents that enriched our lives and for your part in helping him grow to be the man of God he was (and IS!). His memory will always challenge me to live life 110% and to seek to bring light and cheer where ever I go.

By: Cheri Garber

Cheri Garber — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:22:53 +0000

Several of you have asked for the letter I wrote to Todd and Debbie and family (seen at the memorial) to be posted here. With their permission I will add it here.

Dear Debbie, Todd, Justin, Janelle and Bradley,

I wanted to share something that was special to me this week. It may not hit you as it did me, but I hope that these words are a gift to you.
Wednesday, the day after we got the news about Matthew, I came home to find that our wheat field had been harvested. I felt unreasonably upset because Jay had told us it had to wait at least a day or two before it was ready. “What were they thinking? It’s not time. It won’t be any good.” When Joel came home he told me that not only had the weather made the wheat ready early but that the harvest was much more than we had hoped.
Later that week I hand cut some stalks that were missed. My thoughts were on Matt and his life as so much of my waking hours were. As I gathered that wheat I felt that God was speaking to my heart, that Matt’s life was like that wheat field.
Matt was God’s creation. Matt’s life started like a kernel of wheat full of gifts, potential and promise. His life could have stayed like a kernel but it didn’t. He was nurtured and encouraged; he grew, matured and flourished. He didn’t hold on to the gifts that had been placed in him. As all gifts are meant for giving, he gave them freely. Whether his joy, smile, intellect, musical or acting talents, love of people, the church and his Lord, he used his potential and shared his gifting. He in effect, sowed his kernel and more wheat popped up around him.
I felt God was saying “Your reaction to Matt’s death is also like your reaction to the wheat field, “It’s not time, what were you thinking God?” Matt’s life is like a field of wheat because of the encouragement, blessing and challenge his life (and now his death) is to others, he has helped many in their walk as well. As I read about the impact his life has had on others I realize how the “harvest” is bigger than my human eyes can see.
Some how I think Matt would want to cheer us on, “Go ahead, embrace life, live life to the full, use what ever God has given you. It’s worth it, it’s worth a life of joy!”
We love you all dearly. We not only grieve along with you but grieve as we see your broken hearts.
Our love and prayers,
Cheri, Joel and Family

By: Heidi Witmer

Heidi Witmer — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:58:03 +0000

I have slowly been reading these entries written by all of you about Matt. It is a blessing to know he has touched so many lives. I had the privilege of knowing Matt about as well as anyone could and I also had the honor of speaking at his memorial service. All week I struggled with what to say and how to say it. How do you define a friendship? God narrowed everything down for me. I have been trying to write it down for a scrapbook that is being made and I thought I’d put it here too. Before I do that I feel like there is one important point to be made. Since Matt’s memorial I have heard the statement from a couple of people that they “feel like they haven’t done anything.” Matt never got up in the morning and said, “Okay, today I’m going to be extraordinary and here’s how I’ll do it.” He simply turned over every day to God. This didn’t mean spending every hour at the piano or reading the Bible, but he did devote time to God. It was because he turned over his life to God that his life has had the impact you’ve all spoken about. I was blessed to be a part of his life and I will always be thankful to know him.

from the memorial, ” This is the hardest thing I’ve ever been asked to do. Matt was a part of every area of my life so when I look out at all of you today I see friends from high school, people from the church where I grew up, my church family now, and Matt’s friends from EMU who have become my friends.

I have been struggling to figure out a way to describe Matt and I for you. How do I help you understand us? As I was trying to figure out how to do this I asked God to give me some way to describe us for you. This week early one morning as I struggled to sleep God gave me the picture of a lightning strike. We’ve all seen lightning strike but few of us have experienced its power first-hand. Lightning has force and power, it has a unique beauty as an act of God. This was my friendship with Matt. It was forceful and powerful and beautiful. It was an act of God. And now, just like lightning, it stretches from heaven to earth.

Neither Matt nor I could have earned or deserved the friendship God gave us to share. I was blessed to know all of Matt’s little quirks, the way he laughed, his long skinny fingers as they pointed, and my personal pet peeve the way he stuck his neck out at me when really trying to get his point across. Even more so I had the joy of knowing Matt’s heart. Through hours of conversation, singing and worshiping together, arguments and easy laughter, I came to know Matt and he came to know me.

Although I am struggling with Matt being gone I have not been angry with God. How can I be angry with God for taking away what was a gift he never had to give me? I believe God’s heart is broken now as mine is. He is rejoicing to have Matt home but He suffers with those of us here who now need to figure out life without Matt. I don’t have answers and I have not yet found great peace. I will always miss Matt. I know only two things for certain. I will see Matt again one day. When it is my turn to enter heaven he will be waiting there ready to give me one more hug. I also know that God is carrying me. Now when I don’t know how to move even one step forward I know that God is carrying me and He will carry me until I’m able to start taking even small steps.”

By: Jean Glick

Jean Glick — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:25:29 +0000

My family got to know Matt when he stayed at our house during the EMU choir tour in the midwest as a freshman. Our daughter, Kara, had asked if we could keep five of her friends overnight after they sang in Normal, IL. These five friends added a lot of laughter and music to our home druing the brief time they were here. The choir had been on the road for a few days giving several concerts already and yet when they got here (after eating some snacks) they all went into the living room and began singing. Matt played the piano, as did others, and the rest of our family enjoyed the impromptu concert. Matt kept things lively that evening with his incredible zest for life.
Every time we came out to EMU to see Kara, we would often run into Matt and he was always so frienldy. We enjoyed hearing him sing during the few times our paths crossed musically.
Our prayers are with his family and friends as they adjust to Matt’s death.

By: Anna Smith

Anna Smith — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:50:25 +0000

Although the most I knew of Matt was seeing him around the nursing department and around campus, I am too very saddened by this loss. I cried when I first read the email about Matt’s death, and I cry each time I open EMU’s page and see links regarding Matt’s death. Why? Because I grieve for family members and friends who Matt truly touched. I grieve because Matt’s career as a nurse never began..simply hearing Matt’s laugh, knowing his intellectual nature, and knowing his passion for nursing gave me confidence that Matt would be an amazing nurse. I’m so sad to know that so many needy patients will be missing out on Matt’s great care. I grieve because for so long, I have taken many things in life, and life itself, for granted.
I feel that I have such a different outlook on life now. I am given a greater desire for nursing and for the care that I can give to my patients. I thank God more than ever for every new day He gives me to grow closer to Him and live life to the fullest. I realize the importance of not taking anything or anyone for granted. Finally, I have the desire to end each day at peace with myself, my life, and my relationship with my Savior, because I never know if I’ll be given another day.
I am very grateful for Matt’s inspiration on my life, and happy to see how many other people he has touched in many various ways. Thanks Matt.
We here on earth have lost an amazing nurse, friend, and family member, but God has surely gained an angel.

By: Barbara S. Ellis

Barbara S. Ellis — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:09:33 +0000

Matt Garber was a shining star that illuminated lives, guided souls, and steadfastly offered his God-given light to everyone within his glow.
As a director, working with the Elizabethtown Area Music Foundation, I am happy to know that when I cast Matt in one of his earliest stage performances, (around age 8 or 9), as Louis in “The King and I,” that I played a small part in his growth as an outstanding performer. In the next six years, he grew to be a tall lanky high schooler, who was one of my “cowboys” in the Music Foundation’s production of “Oklahoma.” Over a period of at least 15 years, Matt has come in and out of my life, always with that fabulous smile and a “thank you” for my friendship and encouragement. What he did not know was how grateful I was for working with and knowing him.
I am deeply saddened by his death. I pray that we can all be strengthened by his example in faith, in works, and in pursuit of God’s plan for our lives. Thank you Matt for being a star. I look up, I see you shining, and I have hope.

By: Kevin L. Biddle

Kevin L. Biddle — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:40:02 +0000

I met Matt Garber on the bus lot here some 11 years ago. Teacher Frank Telenko kept saying to me, “Have you met Matt Garber yet?” Frank knew that Matt was performing in The Sound of Music at Dutch Apple Dinner Theater and because I direct the shows here, I just had to meet him. Frank found Matt and introduced him to me. Little did I know then that this tall, scrawny boy with an infectious laugh and huge smile, would grow to be someone I was proud to truly call my friend.
It would not be long before Matt started peforming on the Etown stage. While in the Middle School Matt played an engaging Ebenezer Scrooge, a role that could not have been farther from Matt’s own personality. On this very stage he sang in the HS choirs, played in the band and performed in such shows as, Arsenic and Old Lace and Oliver!; he played Motel the Tailor in Fiddler on the Roof- a role in which helped create a dance move we still use here today and is affectionately called “The Matt Garber”- in which the performer runs around the stage with their arms spread like an airplane; he played the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz; Cornelius Hackl in Hello, Dolly! and finally, a role that he was destined to play- Harold Hill in The Music Man.
One of my favorite stories that I tell to casts when I give my, “The show must go on!” speech is the story about Matt in his final performance as a student at EAHS in The Music Man. Between the matinee and evening performances of our Saturday shows, the cast went to a local restaurant for dinner and unfortunately, Matt got a touch of food poisoning. The illness hit towards the end of the first act that evening. I knew and his Mom knew that something was wrong. The audience didn’t.
I met Matt in the wings at intermission and he was green. During intermission Dana Baxter and Rich Winey literally prayed with Matt, while I went for trash cans and Sprites. During the second act, Dana stood on stage right and I stood on stage left armed with those trash cans and Sprites and Matt would go onstage, perform his part, exit, get sick and go right back out on that stage. He never once complained or said, “Sorry Mr. Biddle. I can’t do it.” The audience was never the wiser, because Matt still turned in an amazing performance even though he was terribly ill.
That’s the kinda student, performer, person and Christian that Matt was. He gave a 110% to everything he did in his life. He was smart, kind, caring, talented, funny, goofy, loving, compassionate and a true gentleman. He loved God, his family and his friends with all his heart.
Playwright Alan Bennett says in his play, The History Boys: “Pass the parcel. That’s sometimes all you can do. Take it, feel it and pass it on. Not for me, not for you, but for someone, somewhere, one day. Pass it on, boys. That’s the (lesson) I want you to learn. Pass it on.” And that’s what Matt Garber did. He took the life he was given and he shared his gifts faithfully each and every day of his life.
The final curtain may have fallen on Matt’s earthly performance, but I am sure that he is in Heaven singing and smiling and making everybody just as happy up there as he did for each and every one of us down here. As Dorothy said in The Wizard of Oz, ” Hey scarecrow, I think I’m going to miss you most of all!”

By: Steven Barraclough

Steven Barraclough — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:10:54 +0000

I feel blessed to have been one of Matt’s teachers in high school. I can honestly say that he was one of the finest students that I have ever taught. Matt learned tuba at an astounding rate and was strong leader in the tuba section for two years. However, Matt’s true talents lay in his piano skills and a glorious voice that I only wish that I could have. It was amazing to watch him sing as Motel the tailor in Fiddler on the Roof, the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz and as Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man and in so many choral events. On many occasions, you could hear the sounds of someone playing piano on the stage. You would walk in and find Matt playing in the dark and it was music that was just “coming to him”. As I think back to that, I truly believe that it was God speaking through him.

To all of Matt’s family, I hope that you will find peace in the knowledge that Matt is in the presence of a loving God who has a plan for everything. I feel certain in reading all of the testaments to Matt that while his life was short, he lived it fully and touched many people in such a way that you can be proud of the man that he was.

By: Giovanna Salazar

Giovanna Salazar — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:37:13 +0000

I have great memories of Mathew here in Costa Rica, God called him ahead of us, so I have to accept that.
I will have him in my memories, I enjoyed his friendship while it lasted.
I won’t ever forget him.
I pray to God asking HIM to give strength and peace to his mother especially, family, friends and anyone who loves him.
Nunca olvidare su sonrisa encantadora.

By: MRF

MRF — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:51:50 +0000

I did not have the priviledge of knowing this remarkable man. I can not stop thinking about him and his grieving family and friends. I continue to read the comments written by the people whose lives he has touched and now I am one of those people. I cry as I type this, for his life cut short and for his grieving family and many friends. There is nothing we can do for Matt for he is with the Lord, Our Savior. My prayers are with Todd, Deb, Justin, Janelle and Bradley as you face the most difficult times of your lives.
God Bless Your Family.