My thoughts on Matt-  I knew him then as Breaker, as his mother called him.  I now know he preferred Matt.  Six years ago I lead my first summer kayaking tour of teens.  Matt ran his first waterfalls on this trip-Oh Be Joyful, the Fish Ladder, and South Mineral Creek.  On Oh Be Joyful four of us lined up side by side and held each others boats as we slid down a long slide.  It makes me smile thinking about it.  Matt walked back up and ran it again.  I remember his calmness on Gore Canyon while others let their nerves affect their abilities.  At the time they were his first runs other than play and his home Buffalo River, and were probably at the top of his ability at 14 or 15.
While, some of the others were nervous Matt was completly enthusiastic and attentive to the scouting details.  Seeing Matt excited and almost jumping up and down to paddle enthuses me about paddling.  
After the end of the summer Matt moved from Memphis to Asheville.  He called me after what must have been a year and asked me if I wanted to run the Green with him.  For some reason this shocked me.  It was because I had an image of a fourteen year old running waterfalls for his first time embedded in my brain.  Like many young paddlers he soon surpassed his teachers.
The next time I saw Matt was at a LVM premier, he must have grew six inches.  I could not believe how tall he was.  He said, "we should go run the Green some time."
Matt was a wonderful person.  I was always happy to see him as I would smile the kind of smile you have from seeing a person you have not seen in a while but have had nothing but good experiences with at some significant point in your life.  I wish peace to all who knew Matt.