Kevin's Eulogy
When January 4th 1980 dawned, it was cold
and snowy. John and Connie had no idea they were going to become parents later that
day because their new son wasn't due to arrive until the end of February! John was working on a jobsite with Mike Post,
when Connie started experiencing some worrisome symptoms. She called her friend Sharon Post at work,
who dropped her pencil on her desk and rushed right over. Sharon helped mom with her socks – she was
nearly nine months pregnant after all, and then dashed her to the hospital.
Kevin came into the world at 10:30 that night via cesarean section.
Kevin got to spend the first 3 years of his life as
the first and only grandchild in our family; he was doted on, cherished, and
loved from the very start. Both set of grandparents offered to babysit all the
time, and to spend extra moments with
their precious baby. Grandpa Paul
(John’s dad) made him beautiful wooden toys:
a rocking horse and a gorgeous train set. Then his cousins and sister joined the clan,
giving Kevin some new playmates and friends.
The Mathias family moved over to their house on
Lazelle Road in 1984, which began a new chapter in Kevin’s life. He had neighbor boys to play with, woods to
roam around in, a pond to fish in, and many adventures waiting to be had. This move put us in the Olentangy School
system, which gave both Kevin and I some of the best friends anyone could ask
for. He was a bit of a chameleon when it
came to his friends, and he seemed to be able to fit in just about anywhere with
his quick wit and sense of humor : From the marching band to the football team,
drama club to show choir to boy scouts to his groups of “misfits” that he spent
most of his time with. He was very
active in choirs at both school and church.
Music was always important to Kevin, whether he was playing it in the
band or listening to it at deafening volumes in his car – many of you must remember that old Chevy
Malibu he drove in high school. I remember him blasting Korn and Nirvana in his
bedroom, and then later it morphed on to some Beck, ICP, and various other
techno beats. If you know Kevin, you've heard loud music.
He graduated from Olentangy High School in 1998 and
when on to explore the college life in Chicago for a year at DePaul
University. He came back to Columbus and
took a few years off to work before finishing his finance degree at Ohio
Dominican University in 2008. We were
all so proud of him. He worked diligently during and after school, first at the
Doubletree Hotel, then onto Red Roof Inn corporate, then finally onto
NiSource. He excelled in each role, and
made many friends along the way.
When I think of Kevin, three adjectives come to mind
first: clever, funny, and loyal. He has
always been one of the smartest people I know.
Not only book smart – which he definitely was (did you see his SAT
scores?! They were ridiculously high) but he was also smart in the ways of the world. He was quick with comebacks and little
quips. Plus he was the go-to guy in the
family for anything technology related.
Can’t work the TV? Call Kevin. Computer
acting funny? Call Kevin. Can’t remember
the Wi-Fi password? Don’t worry, Kevin will know it.
Aunt Bobbie shared a story that demonstrates his
cleverness from a very young age. He was
about 3 years old, and our grandma Nancy was babysitting him. She had various activities to keep him busy
in her kitchen. One of them was cutting out different shapes from paper with
some scissors at the table. She got him
situated and then turned away to do the dishes.
Kevin was cutting out his shapes and while he was going to town he cut
through the kitchen curtains. Instead of
crying or trying to lie his way out of it, he took some scotch tape and put the
curtains back together. So when Grandma
turned around and saw the curtains, Kevin simply said “Look Grandma, I fixed
it!”
If you knew Kevin well, you probably saw flashes of
his eccentricity and sense of humor from time to time. His laugh was loud and when Kevin was
expressive he lit up a room. Some people
would describe his laugh as “snorty” which is totally true. If you really got him going, he would laugh
loud and end it with a hearty snort. (demonstrate).
Kevin’s friend Chris has an infinite number of
stories, but this one highlights Kevin’s humor. Most of his Chris’ memories are
from their former workplace at the Doubletree hotel. They worked the night shift together for a
few years and Kevin was so good at his job and with numbers and auditing
especially, that he never had to worry about being replaced. And, as Chris said,
“he took full advantage of that.” One evening at 2am, a customer called the
desk. Chris picked up to answer, but
Kevin grabbed the phone from him and screamed into the receiver, “Do you have
any idea what time it is?!” Then he handed the phone back to Chris, who was
in complete shock and had to immediately hang up the phone before busting out laughing.
Chris said that the poor guy probably thought he had the wrong number
and it took him 20 minutes to call back and when he did, he stumbled with his
words, asking if this was the right number to the hotel.
His friend Johnnie shared with me the day she met
Kevin. She had only been dating Ryan for a short time and had heard a lot about
Kevin. She was excited to meet Ryan’s best friend. That day, she thought she
heard someone pull into her driveway, but there was no knock at the door. She got up to investigate. She looked out in
shock and horror as, and I quote, “this giant of a man hacked and stabbed an
old sofa to pieces that she’d set out on the curb” … with a huge sword! Ryan came to the window, laughed, said
“Kevin’s here.” He opened the door and
said, “Cool, you got a new sword!” Johnnie had no idea the sword-wielding man
would become not only her best friend as well but the most adored and dearest
uncle to her children Destiny and Aleya.
One way that Kevin enjoyed connecting with people was
through games. Not only video games –
which he definitely loved, but also through sit down, in person games. He was very active in high school and beyond
playing Magic: The Gathering, and Dungeons and Dragons. We were always finding random dice in the
laundry. He
loved spending time with his friends in these ways, and formed some very
special relationships doing so. He was
active in world of Warcraft for a long time, and very active and adept at
fantasy football. Every year he would play
at least 6 teams, and usually ended up winning money at the end of the
season. He’s actually got a pretty
awesome League trophy right now. I
was so excited to share my team with him the first year I played. He was so patient with my newbie enthusiasm,
and he helped me with my lineups a few times. I was happy to be able to share
that interest with him. Along with
indoor, sit down games, Kevin was also an avid Frisbee golfer. He loved going through the courses, spending
time outside with his friends.
His great intellect was enhanced by the books that he
read. He was a voracious reader. He always had a book in his hand – well, it
used to be a real live paperback book, but lately it was a kindle or nook or
some other e-reader. It was never odd to
see Kevin reading, whether it was at a family gathering, standing outside
waiting for something, or just sitting on the couch after dinner. He was a reader from a very young age - mom
told me that when her mom, Grandma Nancy, was sick and staying with us, Kevin
would read to her to help her feel better.
He was about 11 at the time and he would read to her from the book
called “Momilies” which was little
anecdotes and quips from mothers around the world. It had sayings like “clean your room” and
“don’t make me pull this car over!” Which were both things that Kevin and I
heard mom say often while growing up.
Kevin loved his family and his friends. He was always available to help out when
needed or lend a listening ear. Whenever
mom needed help setting something up, Kevin was always there. When I was having a rough time after a
breakup, Kevin was there to listen and offer up advice – and to threaten the
lives of whoever was causing me pain and heartache. He was so loyal – both to his
family and his friends. He was a
champion for us when our family went through hardships, and he was there for
his friends without fail, whether it was providing a ride, a place to stay for
the night, or a place to live. Kevin
rarely thought about himself, he was more concerned with the well-being of
others. I think he was happiest when he
was doing things for other people.
Johnnie Williams shared another story that exemplifies
this quality in Kevin: One day the power went out at Johnnie and Ryan’s during
a nasty storm. They were told the
electricity would be out for days, and Kevin called to check on them. Their daughters, Destiny and Aleya, who had
been without electricity for maybe an
hour, [
] asked who she was talking to on the phone. Johnnie told them, “It’s
Uncle Kevin,” and the girls began chanting for him to come rescue them. Kevin said to her, “Tell them I’m on the way”. The girls packed their bags and did a “we are
running away to Uncle Kevin’s” dance. He kept them a few days until
the power came back on and completely spoiled them.
It’s hard to sum up the life of a man who died too
soon. The words to express how great,
how wonderful, how clever, how funny, how loyal he was all seem to fall flat. The
truth of it is, he still had so much living to do. There are so many people out there that
haven’t met him, and who don’t understand the hole that all of us have in our
hearts right now. It’s them I feel bad
for: the people that never heard that snorty laugh, who never got to play games
with him, who never experienced his helping hand. Every person who met Kevin remembers him with
a big smile on his face, and if they were lucky, they got to see his dimples ,
which were a gift to see. I can’t tell
you how much I will miss that dimple, that laugh, that listening ear, and that
free tech support.
Kevin was our son, nephew, cousin, classmate,
co-worker, friend, uncle, family, and our brother. But mostly, he IS and will continue to be a
huge part of our hearts. Thank you all for
honoring Kevin by being here today. May
God bless the life of my brother, Kevin Michael Mathias.
Written by Jill (Mathias) Price and Julia Grawemeyer, delivered by
Jill Price on December 6, 2014 at the Celebration of Life service at Church of
the Messiah UMC in Westerville, Ohio. Anecdotes and memories provided by Connie
Mathias, Bobbie Grawemeyer, Chris Green, Johnnie Williams, and Jill Price.
