Funeral service for Matthew David Freeman will be 3:00 P.M. Tuesday, May 23, 2017 in the Becker-Rabon Funeral Home Chapel with Al Christian, associate minister, Freedom Christian Fellowship officiating.

Burial will follow in the family plot alongside his mother and grandparents at the KCA Tribal Cemetery, north of Lawton on Highway 58.

The family will greet friends from 6:00 P.M. until 8:00 P.M. Monday, May 22, 2017 at the funeral home.

Mathew David Freeman, age 27, the only child of Mark David Freeman and Dr. Gretchen LaRue (Foster) (Freeman) Benavidez, was born June 2, 1989 in Augusta, GA.  He departed this earth  May 15, 2017 in Moab, Utah.

His paternal grandparents are the late Dr. Robert David and Nell Freeman of Stillwater, OK.

His maternal grandparents are the late Billy Gordon and Edl Lee (Rhoades) Foster of the Meers community of southwest Oklahoma.

When Matthew was four years of age, the family moved to Belen, New Mexico where his mother established a veterinary medicine practice. Matthew spent the next 12 years in Belen where he took up the usual pursuits of early teenage boys such as soccer, skate boarding, and scouting.  He was schooled at home and at the Hope Christian School in Albuquerque.  At an early age he developed an interest in music, with a special interest in the guitar and, following his father's footsteps, the drums.  His father was an accomplished drummer and performed with several bands in the Stillwater area.  Matthew played in the band of the Belen Abundant Life Christian Center.   Of equal importance, he also developed an interest in painting and produced a number of quality canvases and murals.  He regularly won blue ribbons for his art, such as at county fairs.

A terrible blow befell Matthew with the final illness and death of his mother when he was sixteen years old.  With no siblings and his close family members residing in Oklahoma, he was much alone with this terrible loss and had to make do the best he could.  Seeking family and relatives, he turned to his family in Oklahoma residing with his paternal aunt Lee Freeman and uncle Alan Shryock in Stillwater and family members in the Meers Community.  In 2006, he made his home with his maternal uncle Gordon and cousin Casey Foster in Lawton and graduated from Lawton High School in 2007.   Following graduation, he attended Cameron University and pursued art and music.

Matthew, as is the case with many artists, did not pursue any other profession; he had  no interest in material gain or accumulation. Rather, his artistic temperament was associated with a gypsy spirit.  Also, as is the case with many an artist, Matthew often found that the rough edges of the everyday world could be burdensome.  This undoubtedly played a part in his taking on the quest that became his life's work.

Matthew was a seeker for enlightenment and understanding.  In other times he would have been regarded as a true pilgrim.  His quest became literal in the sense that he travelled the west, often by hitching rides with passersby.  He provided for necessities by taking on short time jobs.  Not long ago Matthew posted the following on facebook:

"Do Not Worry

25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? (Matthew 6:25-27)"

His last pilgrimage was to the rugged area around Moab, Utah where he had previously found a particular location to be special for him.  That is where his short life on this earth ended, perhaps fittingly reminding him of his beloved Wichita Mountains.

Survivors include an uncle and aunt, Gordon Lee and Wendy Billings Foster of the Meers Community; aunt Kristan Edl Foster of the Meers Community; aunt Lee Freeman and uncle Alan Shryock of Stillwater, OK; cousin Casey Gordon and wife Lindsey Foster of Edmond, OK; aunt Mary Torrez of Fayetteville, NC; and step-father, Robert Benavidez of Belen, NM.  He leaves behind two special cousins with whom he communicated even while on his pilgrimages:  Ashley (McKee) Dillard of Garland, TX and Lora Leon of the Meers Community.  He leaves behind many other aunts, uncles, cousins and relatives as well as many friends across the country all of whom were touched by his simple good nature.

A perfect characterization of Matthew is that by one of his Lawton High School Classmates who years after graduation sent him the following message:

"I still can't believe the news, Matthew, you got Senior Class Favorite, 'Friendliest' for a very specific reason … No one was immune to your kind soul, genuine spirit, and contagious laughter".

Memorial contributions may be made to Breast Cancer Research Foundation, 60 E. 56 ^th Street, New York, New York  10022.