Dave Matteson - 1970s Berkeley elder - has passed

[Sons to Glory!]

I found out today, from some who knew him well, that Dave Matteson passed away this past week. I was told he was 87.

Dave was an elder of the local church in Berkeley when I was led there from Ohio in 1974. Those were crazy times in Ba-zerkely, to be sure. We met in CJ's Old Garage , which was called that even before the saints bought it, and it was smack on Telegraph Avenue (the craziest part of crazy Berkeley). Dave would have been in his early 40s then. Most of the gathering was probably a little younger, including a large number of us in our late teens/early 20s. Many of us, were fresh off the streets with big Afros or hair way down our backs, but we all loved Jesus!

Dave's face used to just beam, and I remember him sharing and giving testimonies. His face actually shone and he used to remind me of Moses (as played by Charelton Heston in the Ten Commandments movie) coming down from Mt. Sinai - he beamed so much it kind of frightened me a little at times, as I was just a kid coming off the street. But truly, I always had the sense that Dave was just in the simple enjoyment of Christ!

Dave and his wife Gisela, left the local churches at some point (1980s?) and lived in North Carolina where I believe he had regular gatherings and fellowship with the group there Don Rutledge was with, who had also left the LC circle of influence. In the 1990s they moved to Scottsdale to be with the gathering here who met with Bill Freeman. When I hit the Scottsdale gathering in 1998, the Mattesons were here and then left a couple years later to return to California.

I never got to know Dave very well at all, but I always held him in highest esteem. Dave, I know you are enjoying Jesus even more now brother! May the Lord greatly comfort his wife and family.