Matthew Gaphni

Our beloved son Matthew passed away on October 22 from complications from endocarditis. He was 21 years old. Matthew was a senior at Western Washington University, a place he embraced from the moment he got there in the Fall of 2007. In the three years he was there, he built a strong and solid community of friends. From his youngest years, Matthew always had very distinct interests. In particular, was his love of history. From the time he was a little boy, he delved into various periods of time. And while majoring in history would have been natural for him, he chose instead to go the more practical route of accounting. He wanted to go into a field where he would be guaranteed to get a job. Matthew loved to travel, and had traveled in the Middle East, Europe, Nicaragua, and just this past year spent a month traveling on his own in Australia. Matthew was one of the most disciplined and hardest working people we knew. If something didn't come easy to him, he worked and worked at it until he mastered it. He did it with baseball, tennis and math, and most recently had taken up golf. We know he would have mastered that too. We want to thank Dr. Aldea and Dr. Cheng at UWMC and the incredible staff there (and at Harrison Hospital) who gave Matthew such loving and competent care. Matthew is survived by his parents, Robin and Israel, brother Jordan, sister Aviva, grandmother Lyn Laflin and numerous other aunts and uncles and cousins. It will be hard for all of us to live the rest of our lives without Matthew. But we must remember and cherish our times with him, and live our lives and be happy. That is what Matthew would have wanted. The Funeral Service will take place on Tuesday, October 26, 2010 at 2:00 pm at The LDS Chapel on High School Road on Bainbridge Island, WA. (Next to Ordway Elementary School). Interment will take place at Port Blakely Cemetery on Bainbridge Island. A reception will follow at the family home. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Matthew's name to Western Washington University's scholarship fund. http://www.wwu.edu/give.