Family on Matthew

Matthew was a man of extremes and a daredevil, he had no fears or worries. Without him, I never would have reached the top of the Great Wall. ~ Becky

I will always remember A-Gong for being the fix-it man in our house. In the last year, he helped us fix our refrigerator and washing machine. He also assembled my basketball hoop when Daddy got frustrated. It was always fun when he and A-Ma slept over our house whenever Daddy
went away on a business trip. ~ Collin (4 yrs)

A-Gong gave me my own harmonica and showed me how to play it. He gave Collin and me yummy juice boxes whenever we went to their house. A-Gong also let me hold his cell phone when nobody else would. ~ Cary (2 yrs)

I loved when A-Gong played harmonica for me, crashed toy cars off the couch, and played the shell game with me. He always made me giggle. ~ Norah (1 yr)

I will never forget when Dad bought his portable bright yellow GPS unit years ago (he was the first person I knew that owned one). He loved it and took it everywhere and showed me every satellite position everywhere we went - trying to teach me the physics of how satellites worked. I was appalled when Dad brought it out and turned it on during our airplane takeoff to Hawaii! When I reminded him to turn it off as the flight attendant had explicitly said "turn off all electronics" - he just smiled and said "don't worry - these don't really disturb the flight instruments" and continued to use his GPS, albeit hidden under his jacket next to the airplane window. ~ Caroline

Dad's mind was always working, figuring out how to solve a problem or fix something. I would find pieces of scrap paper containing equations and calculations, lying all over the house. I remember him soliciting my help a few times to fix various home appliances. He would often take the extra effort to get something working exactly right, when I often thought "That is good enough". With Dad, there was no such thing as "Good enough", I often see this diligence in Caroline. ~ Andrew

I always loved visiting Dad at work – he always had cookies in his desk and let me play with the dummies. Sometimes he would take us to watch the cars crash into walls. I also remember when Dad insisted on driving me all the way to the school doors—instead of letting me off at the corner— in his flesh-colored Pinto. I am pretty sure that was an important lesson in humility and respect. ~ Kelly

One afternoon when watching a Tigers game with Dad, he explained the physics of hitting home runs, trying to give me pointers for my alumni softball league. By the time he got done using advanced calculus to explain the physics involved, the only thing that I could understand was there was a picture of a bat and ball on the page. ~ Andy