Matt Cooper and me at Sea World

I went to a funeral today.  I went without tissues which turned out to be a critical mistake. You see Matt Cooper passed last week, on April Fool’s Day, which if you knew him at all, you knew that was so apropos.  I did not cry when I heard that Matt died, I hadn’t been closely connected to him in over 15 years, since we worked at the radio station together in the 90’s, but I saw him from time to time around town, the last time was about a year ago at a car dealership in Oxnard with a woman who would turn out to be his guardian angel and second wife, Juliana.

I arrived about ten minutes before the service was to start wanting to be able to see the slide show of photos his family had put together in his honor.  I had submitted a number of pictures from KXBS when Matt was our morning show host.  There was a couple from some radio station promos as well as pictures when we went down to Sea World to do a radio remote broadcast.  This was the Matt I knew and loved.  I really do miss working with him in radio.

What I did not expect, was to be hit emotionally from his pictures when he was a baby to a child growing up, his time spent in the hospital (his first bout with Cancer), photos of Matt with his family, at different radio stations, and then his wedding to his first wife Alex and of course the last few years with his tailor-made family with his second wife Juliana who had three children.  Matt couldn’t procreate because of the Cancer and treatments he was made to endure so Matt was thrilled to finally have a family to be a part of, and from what I could tell, and the stories I heard, these kids loved him back.

But even if I had not known Matt, I would have been moved by the display of the pictures of a life that is now over, but had so much life and love in it. It is what makes us human.
The first time I cried was when his cousin got up to speak and said something so profound.  He said Matt should not be here today.  We all should not be here today.  We should have lost him 27 years ago when Cancer took its first attempt at his life.  Had he succumbed then, what a different life we all would have.

I looked around and saw the people that were there because of him.  Our lives would have been all so very different that I realized for the very first time how precious all our relationships are.  These were tears of profundity.

Then Rob got up to speak.  We had met earlier in the week to talk about Matt over a couple of beers at Billy O’s.  I knew Rob missed him terribly and I knew this was going to be extremely hard on him.  He started out by saying that Matt was his friend, his mentor, and then he hesitated, and started again saying, “Matt was my…”  It was at least 45 seconds later that Rob found the composure to complete the sentence and I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a dry eye in the house when he finally said, “Brother.”

Again the tears, and this time, I just let them fall.  These were tears of profundity again, about relationships that bond two people like no other.  It was just beautiful.  I knew Rob was feeling the pain of losing his good friend and there was nothing he could do about it.  I knew Rob was a better man because of his relationship with Matt and that is a beautiful thing.

Then a former boss spoke about Matt and told stories about how generous he was and stood up for the homeless, she who also read a letter from a nurse whose life was deeply affected by Matt 27 years ago and how he (at age 16) was found late one night walking back and forth comforting a 2-day old baby suffering from jaundice.

I’m angry that Cancer won this time.  How amazing would it have been if Matt beat it again with all the odds against him.  But he didn’t and now we all must reflect on a life that was cut short.  And it is sad that his family and close friends are now missing him and going through this sorrow of loss.

Matt was a good man.  Not a saint by any means, in all honesty, he was quite ornery; but all in all, he was an extremely good man with heart.

And this is what I took away from Matt’s funeral.  Matt never gave up because life is great. And he knew it.  Friends are everything.  And I’m reminded once again that we are all basically good.  We are here to help one another.  Nurture your relationships with your family and friends.  Create them, because in the end, that is what makes life worthwhile.