road trip the family had taken around the West in the summer of 1991: They visited Mount Rushmore andDevils Tower; stopped at the Custer Battlefield (“Little Bighorn”) and Medicine Wheel; and drove to North Dakota to see the Badlands.
Matthew also touched blithely on the medical condition that was said to account for his diminutive size. “Last year, I received 4 hormone shots as a part of a growth study group,” he wrote. “They hope to learn more about delayed puberty as well as diabetes.” (“Delayed puberty” describes the condition when an organism has passed the usual age of onset of puberty with no physical or hormonal signs that it is beginning.)
But in a classroom essay earlier that year, shortly after he turned fourteen, Matthew revealed a side of himself that was both reflective and restless. He wrote about his fascination with theater, which had first taken hold of him in the fifth grade:
The theater provides me with an escape from everyday living and, at the same time a different perspective [on] that life …
Acting allows me the opportunity to escape the daily peeves and enter a world where I know who I am and what the future holds. As I struggle daily to define the seemingly never ending question of “Who am I,” theater helps to answer that question not only by being a defining characteristic of my personality and interest but by allowing me to live someone else’s life on stage.
Whether acting in local theater productions or just working on a stage crew, Matthew was often surrounded by adults and college students, with whom he apparently felt right at home. For the next six years, until the family moved to Saudi Arabia, he was actively involved with both the Casper College theater group and an adult community theater in town.
“Theater was an escape for Matt,” Dennis Shepard agreed.
“I felt the regrets of a father when he realizes his son is not a star athlete. But it was replaced with a greater pride when I saw him on the stage. The hours that he spent learning his parts, working behind the scenes and helping others, made me realize that he was actuallya better athlete than a person playing sports … I have never figured out how he was able to spend all those hours at the theater during the school year and still have good grades.
“Because my job involved lots of travel, I never had the same give and take with Matt that Judy had,” his father acknowledged. “Our relationship, at times, was strained. But, whenever he had problems, we talked …”
Dennis also spoke admiringly of the “special bond” Matt and his mother seemed to have. “Judy was mother, father, nurse, teacher, cook, counselor and anything else that was needed …” he said. “[She] was Matt’s anchor through all his problems.”
Mother and son enjoyed movies, theater, their home church of St. Mark’s in Casper, and “a good joke.” The two spent hours together talking about politics, Hollywood gossip, or the latest fads; Judy also helped Matthew with homework, worked with him on his physical therapy, nursed him when he was sick, and drove him to and from the theater when he was working on a play.
“He was always worried he might do something to disappoint her [but] he seldom did,” Dennis recalled.
“At the same time, he would aggravate her to death. [Matt] was a typical son. There were good days and bad days with him. Arguments, mistakes and punishments were made. He was constantly being told to pick up his clothes and clean up his room, even at college. It seemed that he would start an argument just to see how much he could get away with before getting in trouble. In the end and through it all, was his love for her. Judy wasn’t just his mother; she was a friend. Judy was his confidant. When he had problems or just needed a shoulder to cry on, she was there. When he had good news, she was the first to hear.”
In victim impact statements like those excerpted above or in his words spoken
Matthew also touched blithely on the medical condition that was said to account for his diminutive size. “Last year, I received 4 hormone shots as a part of a growth study group,” he wrote. “They hope to learn more about delayed puberty as well as diabetes.” (“Delayed puberty” describes the condition when an organism has passed the usual age of onset of puberty with no physical or hormonal signs that it is beginning.)
But in a classroom essay earlier that year, shortly after he turned fourteen, Matthew revealed a side of himself that was both reflective and restless. He wrote about his fascination with theater, which had first taken hold of him in the fifth grade:
The theater provides me with an escape from everyday living and, at the same time a different perspective [on] that life …
Acting allows me the opportunity to escape the daily peeves and enter a world where I know who I am and what the future holds. As I struggle daily to define the seemingly never ending question of “Who am I,” theater helps to answer that question not only by being a defining characteristic of my personality and interest but by allowing me to live someone else’s life on stage.
Whether acting in local theater productions or just working on a stage crew, Matthew was often surrounded by adults and college students, with whom he apparently felt right at home. For the next six years, until the family moved to Saudi Arabia, he was actively involved with both the Casper College theater group and an adult community theater in town.
“Theater was an escape for Matt,” Dennis Shepard agreed.
“I felt the regrets of a father when he realizes his son is not a star athlete. But it was replaced with a greater pride when I saw him on the stage. The hours that he spent learning his parts, working behind the scenes and helping others, made me realize that he was actuallya better athlete than a person playing sports … I have never figured out how he was able to spend all those hours at the theater during the school year and still have good grades.
“Because my job involved lots of travel, I never had the same give and take with Matt that Judy had,” his father acknowledged. “Our relationship, at times, was strained. But, whenever he had problems, we talked …”
Dennis also spoke admiringly of the “special bond” Matt and his mother seemed to have. “Judy was mother, father, nurse, teacher, cook, counselor and anything else that was needed …” he said. “[She] was Matt’s anchor through all his problems.”
Mother and son enjoyed movies, theater, their home church of St. Mark’s in Casper, and “a good joke.” The two spent hours together talking about politics, Hollywood gossip, or the latest fads; Judy also helped Matthew with homework, worked with him on his physical therapy, nursed him when he was sick, and drove him to and from the theater when he was working on a play.
“He was always worried he might do something to disappoint her [but] he seldom did,” Dennis recalled.
“At the same time, he would aggravate her to death. [Matt] was a typical son. There were good days and bad days with him. Arguments, mistakes and punishments were made. He was constantly being told to pick up his clothes and clean up his room, even at college. It seemed that he would start an argument just to see how much he could get away with before getting in trouble. In the end and through it all, was his love for her. Judy wasn’t just his mother; she was a friend. Judy was his confidant. When he had problems or just needed a shoulder to cry on, she was there. When he had good news, she was the first to hear.”
In victim impact statements like those excerpted above or in his words spoken
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