Obituary of Armand Matter

Armand “Butch” Matter, Jr., 64, a resident of Yelm for 12 years, died at his home on Sunday, December 18, 2005. He was born April 21, 1941 in Delano, MN to Armand J. and Helen E. (Adickes) Matter. Butch attended school in Delano through the11th grade and received his GED while in the Army. He was very proud to serve in the United States Army to defend his country. He was stationed in Ft. Lewis and did a tour of duty in Viet Nam being honorably discharged on July 31, 1967. Butch worked as an Auto Mechanic and was then trained to become a body/fender technician with 30-35 years fixing cars. The last 20 years he worked for Pacific Motors Co. in Tacoma and retired in 2002. He lived in Tacoma for approximately 30 years in the Yelm area the last 12 years. His first love was working on classic cars and belonging to PSRA in Yelm. He also enjoyed flying remote control airplanes. He enjoyed traveling with his wife and friends to Long Beach, WA, Wyoming, Minnesota and wherever his truck would take them. Above all else he loved flying planes and helicopters the most. Butch had attended Calvary Baptist Church in Roy, WA. He belonged to Yelm Prairie Street Rod Association and drove his big red 71’ Chevrolet Caprice and was restoring a Ford 66’ Galaxy 500 for his wife Betty. He had been Sergeant of Arms for PSRA for 4 years and had served as President of Local Automotive Machinists Union in the late 70’s and early 80’s. He was a member of the Puget Sound R/C flyers and had five airplanes that he spent time flying and working on. On December 23, 1995 he married Betty A. Weisgarber in Yelm, she survives him at the family home. Butch is also survived by a son; James J. (Jayme) Matter of Tacoma; stepson, Christopher (Judy) Welch of Olympia; daughters, Sue Matter of Yelm, Sara (Robert) Hampton of Tacoma; brothers, David (Linda) Matter of Watertown, MN, Dennis Matter of Delano, MN; sisters, Jane Giese of Delano, MN, Carol Mortensen of Strandquist, MN, Carmen Farniok of Delano, MN and Judith Sericola of Waterliet, NY; his mother, Helen of Delano, MN; brother in law, George; 11 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by two grandchildren, brother’s in law,Ken, Jerry, Clem and Jeff; sisters, Janet and Sharon and his father, Armand. A memorial service will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, December 30th at Calvary Baptist Church in Roy with a potluck reception to follow.