Hilda Matthews

9/4/1962 — 5/30/2025

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Hilda M. Matthews passed away Friday, May 30, 2025, with her daughters Betsi and Danielle by her side, after many health battles over the years. She was born on Sept. 4, 1962, to Thomas and Genevieve Kauffman, and spent her childhood living in New York and California with her parents and siblings. She spent most of her young adult years in California, working for a phone company and Cherry Textron, and making memories with her daughter, Betsi.

In 1994, she welcomed her second daughter, Danielle, with the love of her life Wayne Matthews and settled in Wayne’s neck of the woods, Weippe. She absolutely loved being a homemaker, we were often joined by Wayne’s children from prior marriages, Richard, Robert and Kristina, for the summers and holidays. Mom loved making memories with all of us, especially camping, fishing, stopping at swimming holes and looking at wildlife. She was incredibly proud of her kids and loved attending their activities. She could always be counted on to play a game of rummy or Yahtzee and the luck always seemed to be on her side. She looked forward to our nightly backroad drives with the family and our dogs, Shamrock and Holly.

Once the kids were grown, Mom and Dad spent a great amount of quality time together, they would go hunting, take long drives and she especially loved joining him in his logging truck. They truly enjoyed each other’s company and they cherished their time together until his passing in 2018. After which, she could usually be found having dinner and playing cribbage at Betsi’s on the weekend, taking a drive to visit with Danielle’s family, or getting spoiled in Florida by Kristina, she loved her annual trips to Florida. Her heart was always wherever her loved ones were and she had a special bond with each of her children and grandchildren. She did the best she could to keep herself busy after Dad’s passing, she played cards with friends, enjoyed bingo and was always baking something, usually to be delivered to family or friends, those who knew her well will remember the many batches of frosted butter cookies each holiday season or her lemon meringue pie.

She was preceded in death by her husband Wayne, both of her parents, brothers Tommy and Kenny, and her sister Terry. She is survived by her children; Betsi (Jason) Rowden, Danielle (Joe) Gehring, Kristina (Mario) Morales, Richard Matthews, Robert Matthews and bonus daughter Charity Walter, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She had some very special friends who were near and dear to her heart; Roseann, Brenda, Cindy and Brenda T., thank you for keeping Mom busy and helping with anything she needed, she sure loved you all.

A service for close friends and family will be held this summer. Although she did her best to keep busy, we know her heart has not been complete since Dad’s passing and she is now where she was ready to be; reunited with him, we hope “there’s nothin’ but blue skies” for them. We will miss her comforting hugs, her sense of humor and laughter, video coffee chats, special camping trips and so much more that we can’t put into words.

Mom, we love you and like you told us, “We will see you on the other side.”

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