Matthew David Lyzen

Matthew David Lyzen, Died of Suicide on or after January 25th following a day spent at the Fire and Ice Festival in downtown Rochester two months before his 24th birthday. Matthew was a Rochester Hills resident, born and raised. First attending Neighborhood Childcare Center, then Long Meadow, Vanheusen, and Rochester Adams High. His remains were found in Rochester 7 months after his disappearance on private property in a wooded area bordering the Clinton River Trail only a few blocks from where he was last seen. Over 150 volunteers covered miles of wooded areas along the Clinton River and Paint Creek trails from Avon rd to Borden Park. His remains were found while the land owner was excavating land at the edge of his property. Pixley Funeral Home took care of the cremation and transportation arrangements.

A Celebration of Life Gathering, and Prayer service, followed by a continental breakfast will take place at Christ the Redeemer in Lake Orion beginning 9am Saturday on October 4th.

Matthew was very bright. He graduated high school in 2009 after scoring in the 99th percentile on both the ACT and MEAP tests. He graduated with honors from OCC obtaining an associates in applied science fall of 2013. He had hoped to enroll and achieve a bachelors in computer aided graphic design at Northern Tech, and a great love of automobiles from a very young age. He was selected to participate in the OSVD Tech program, formerly known as the GM tech program before becoming funded by five major corporations including Chrysler Motor Company. James Jelnicke taught him there and was quite possibly Matthew’s all-time favorite mentor. Matt was also very interested in architecture and had a great deal of secondary education in sociology and economics from OCC. He had a strong interest, and stellar understanding, of cosmology and physics enjoying long conversations on multi-dimensional theories, dark matter, or string theory for example, being able to describe these things quite skillfully and simply.

Matthew was an avid gamer and effective communicator. He enjoyed fantasy books including entire series by many authors like Tolkien, Paolini, Moorcock, Jacques, Lewis, and Rawlings, but his single most favorite series must have been the Hitchhikers Guide, reading all three books under one cover more than a dozen times, “42!” being his favorite answer to most everything. Matthew had a fantastic sense of humor. “I could eat” when ever asked if he was hungry. “You’re a towel” his favorite come back, and “How bout them Yankees” almost always his way of changing the subject. He wasn’t particularly fond of sports, either as a participant or spectator, though he did like golf and diving a great deal. He logged over 100 hours bottom time diving with his brother in both ocean and fresh water. One of his favorite dives was a 110 foot deep shipwreck in Tobermory, Canada. Some tropical cave and night diving were among his favorites as well. He was particularly fond of a 16 foot Manta ray dubbed “Lefty” one night near Kona, Hawaii back in May of 2005.

Matthew loved his pets. He had two ferrets about ten years ago. Cujo the sable, and Gumby an albino, were often his cohorts in mischievousness and joy. Matt was survived; by his cat Sam, a big Chocolate Lab named Bosco, his brother Andrew, his father Richard, mother Becky, fraternal grandparents Mike and Maria Lyzen (Baba and Dido), and maternal grandparents Al and Betty Dowell. His maternal aunt Nicci (Dowell) Tice, and uncles Rocky and Ben Dowell, and fraternal uncles Terry, and Jeff Lyzen.

Matthew was a very bright and happy guy most of the time. He was quite skilled in understanding what motivated others to act in certain ways without placing any judgement, and he primarily accepted people as they are. He did not claim to have faith in anything unscientifically proven, but certainly seemed to lead a spiritual life. Even serving retreats for others from time to time. Meeting people’s needs seemed very important to him and often the only thing that would motivate him when all else failed. He suffered from major depressive episodes lasting for months at a time beginning in his early adolescent years following his mother’s diagnosis and treatment of colon cancer, a particularly aggressive and rare genetic type. Matthew carried the gene and suspicious tissues were being found throughout his digestive system as early as age 11. He sometimes had trouble recovering from emotional setbacks, and at the end of this last major depressive episode he had been scheduled for his annual tissue screening. He disappeared one week before the exam.

Matthew seemed to have turned the corner towards the end. He began eating more regularly and coming out of his room more often to interact with others for about a week prior to his disappearance Things seemed hopeful again, but we, his family now know this is often a dangerous time for people contemplating suicide. It’s as if they feel a sense of relief for having arrived at a solution to their problem. He never threatened suicide, but had we known this one small fact in advance, he might not have been allowed to be alone for more than a moment his final week and our fervent wish people become more educated about suicide. We would like to support Common Ground in creating a legacy of hope and ask any donations made in Matt’s honor be given to that organization, or any group supporting suicide prevention, intervention, and post-vention for survivors.