Matthew D. Johnson's Obituary
Services for Matthew Dean Johnson, 25, will be held Monday, November 8 at 1:00 pm at Rose Heights Church with the Reverend Mervin Scott and Pastor Lynn Hildreth officiating. Interment will follow at Deadwood Methodist Cemetery in Deadwood, Texas. Arrangements are being entrusted to Rader Funeral Home. Matthew, a commercial photographer, ended his earthly adventure on Tuesday, October 19, 2004, in a tragic airplane crash near Kirksville, Missouri while on a photographic assignment.
While at Longview High School, Matthew was a member of the Longview Lobo Band, a member of the SRO theater group, a member of the Computer Science team, and was a Globe Scholar. Following graduation from Longview High School in 1997, Matthew attended Kilgore College. While at Kilgore College, Matthew served as opinion editor, executive editor and photographer for the student newspaper, THE FLARE. He was selected to Who?s Who Among Students in American Junior Colleges and Who?s Who in Journalism at Kilgore College. Matt was an outstanding journalist and photographer, winning numerous awards from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association and the Texas Community College Journalism Association. While attending Kilgore College, he worked part time for the Longview News Journal where he learned many real world lessons about journalism. He graduated from Kilgore College in May, 2000 and entered Texas A & M-Commerce pursuing a degree in photography. He was a member of Alpha Chi, National College Honor Scholarship Society. While attending Texas A & M-Commerce, he pursued the art of photography with an unrelenting passion and was published three times in CMYK magazine, a national collegiate portfolio of the visual arts. One of these photos was chosen as a winner in the 2004 Soho Photo National Competition and was displayed in the Soho Photo Gallery in New York City. He graduated cum laude from Texas A & M-Commerce in December, 2003 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Photography. Matthew then began work in the field of commercial photography in the Dallas area.
Matthew was preceded in death by his paternal grandparents, Carlton and Erlene Johnson of Carthage, Texas; his maternal grandparents, Charles T. Dean of Athens, Texas, R. M. ?Sonny? and Elizabeth ?Liz? Dean McGuffey of Athens, Texas.
Matthew is survived by his parents, Terry and Melinda Dean Johnson of Longview, Texas; his fiancé, Danea Males of Commerce, Texas; his aunt, Rhonda Jones of Carthage, Texas; his uncle, Daniel Johnson of Carthage, Texas; his uncle and aunt, Mike and Linda Dean of Georgetown, Texas; his cousins, Mindy and Shannon Baker of Longview, Texas, David and Keri Dean of League City, Texas, Scott and Christy Dean of Dallas, Texas, and Andy Dean of Katy, Texas.
Serving as pallbearers will be David Dean, Scott Dean, Andy Dean, Steve Green, Matthew Hardin, Michael Kilpatrick, and Ronn Meyer. Honorary pallbearers are Jeremy Sharp, Brian Cline, and Jake Botter.
The family will receive friends from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm on Sunday, November 7 at Rader Funeral Home in Longview, Texas.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to any of the following:
The Paul Talley/Matthew Johnson Scholarship Fund
Photography Department
Texas A & M University-Commerce
P. O. Box 3011
Commerce, Texas 75429-3011
or
Matthew Johnson Photojournalism Scholarship
Kilgore College
1100 Broadway
Kilgore, Texas 75662
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