Matthew Wilkinson

Matthew Riley McLean Wilkinson was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on September 21 st, 1989. He was born to his parents, Jonnie Reese Wilkinson and Diana Lynne Skaggs/Wilkinson and is the third of four children. Both of his parents wanted him very much. So much so, that they had been seeing a specialist to gain assistance to achieve success in the pregnancy. They struggled immensely through many efforts and office visits. Finally, at last, they reached the miraculous attainment of being bestowed by a beautiful, healthy baby boy.

He was coveted beyond comprehension. And they welcomed him into this world and into the family with overwhelmingly welcome and loving arms. He grew up in Kearns for the first several years of his life, up until he was about 8 years old. The rest of his childhood and adulthood was spent in American Fork, Utah.

Matt grew up close with his friend Cody Nielson and his cousins Adam, Ryan, and Jess. He was always climbing trees (among other things and everything else he could climb on) and catching water snakes. He loved music and he worked extremely hard to learn how to play the guitar. His first ever success on the acoustic was the 'King of the Hill' intro song.

He took off from there and eventually went on to play several times for people, including playing at his Jr. High school with his band at the time, 'Halfway Toter' in the school's auditorium.

He had a love for not only guitar, but for the piano and violin, too. Matt was skilled in nearly any instrument that he picked up. He even helped his younger nephews learn to play much of what they know today. Matt could sing with a powerful voice and would do so for anyone to hear. He loved to go out and karaoke and socialize with the people around him. Matt also had a great love for fantasy and literature. He was a fan of Tolkien and David Eddings. He loved video games, such as Final Fantasy, Breath of Fire, Legend of Zelda, and Gauntlet Legends- among many others. He also loved to write, and at one point was interested in writing his own screenplays. He loved to watch movies and quote them and was a fan of Jerry Seinfeld and Star Trek. While not everyone was always so into his unique sense of humor, others absolutely loved it. It could be crude and outlandish at times, but to many people like his younger sister, Erin, it was the best. He loved to go hiking up in Timp canyon with his father and older brother, and he'd go fishing in various areas with his brother and friends, too.

Matthew was an incredible uncle and helped to raise one of his nieces, Chloe. Chloe is Matt's younger sister, Erin's daughter. Erin, at one point in her life, had to decide to give up