Introduction:
Dear friends, As an avid duck hunter who is also a Lutheran pastor, I was both overwhelmed by this great tragedy and felt a responsibility to offer some means for the nation- wide duck hunting community to express grief. I can somewhat imagine the grief of the Boys family because I regularly deal with grieving adults and grieving children. May the Lord bless them!
But there is something additional here: the grief, almost to despair, by Worth Matthewson at the loss of a hunting buddy while hunting together. The loss to Worth is not greater than the family’s loss, just different in a way that hits men, especially duck hunters, right between the eyes and right in the heart. Perhaps there is no greater fear for a duck hunter than losing a friend “on your watch,” that is, while hunting together. May the Lord bless Worth!
I am currently reading a book called, “Why Men Hate Church.” That book identifies characteristics like, risk, challenge, danger and test as elemental characteristics that attract men. Those characteristics, often absent at church, are very real and normal in duck hunting.
Those characteristics can kill you or kill someone you love when the mixture includes wind, wave and exposure to freezing temperatures.
This is the “memorial” I have put together. I have pieced together quotes from all the guys who responded on the Duck Hunters Boat Page and The Mighty Layout Boys webpage to this sad, sad experience on November 22 on Tillamook Bay, Oregon. I left in the spelling and grammar mistakes. Noteworthy is the spelling and grammar of Worth, whose grief has changed his writing! At the end, I have a brief devotion.
May God be with the Boys family. May God be with Worth Matthewson and all friends and comrades of David Boys.
Sincerely,
Rev. Larry Eckart, Pastor
Hope Lutheran Church
Linden, Michigan
Chaplain, The Mighty Layout Boys
A Memorial to David Boys
I still don't be able to get off the couch and staring at the ceiling.
Mr. Mathewson I am very sorry to here about this tragic accident and your close call!
My heart is very heavy tonight as I wipe the tears off my face…I remember thinking to myself (when I talked to Dave in the past) that this would be someone I would like to get to know better.
It makes me sick to my stomach to think about Dave and his family. It is the little mistakes that you have gotten lucky with many times before that can finally catch up with any of us.
Mark, Greg & I have had some close calls through the years & I thank the Lord they didn't end up in tragedy. I'm not sure I'd be able to hunt again after loosing one of those two guys.
To hear about the loss I havn't cried in a long time about anything but to hear a story like this it brought tears to my eyes and my heart goes out to all involved.
I'm know your heart was heavy as you typed this out.
Thank you Worth for the description of what happened. I am not a hunter, wildfowl, or any other, but David and I were friends for thirty-five years….David's enthusiam was always contageous -- always that infectious grin and always the positive attitude. David coached me what to do and to keep down in the big boat. The Marsh Rat was tied alongside. David was intense.
I still don't be able to get off the couch and staring at the ceiling.
Went hunting today to try and get David Boys off my mind. It didn't work. I wanted to be alone to have time to try to understand, and pray for his family. I have known the risk we all take while chasing waterfowl in the cold ,dark, and windy days. I have excepted that risk and God only knows how many times I have been close to not coming home.
For those that did not know David he was one of the best known of the NW Waterfowlers. A near permenant fixture on the marshes and rivers of NW Oregon and likely to show up just about anywere else in the area as well. While I didn't know him that well I do know that the man was a WATERFOWLER in the truest sense of the word and his loss to our small community is a tragic one.
Sadly, at some point, members of our community don't return from those forays to the marshes that we love so much. Its hurts the worse when we know those people and even more deeply to those who were close friends of the ones that don't come back.
I am thankful Worth is safe.
News like this is always like a kick to the stomach. Every year we hear and read about hunters that dont make it back some by carelessness and some by plane bad luck.
I think I'm in a bit of shock at hearing this news...
Dang, Steve- that is a nightmare.
Definately a reminder on just how quickly our passion can turn on Us
What a terrible tragedy
This serves to remind us that the lifestyle that we have chosen can easily sweep any one of us away. Let us all be conscious of our safety and grateful that we have been given another day to pursue our greatest passion. Godspeed, Dave and bless you, Worth.
As I read this I thought of the first article I ever read of Worth's in Wildfowl. He and Dave were hunting Baldpate's in some gem of a spot on the Oregon coast. That was a more than just a great read. It was two men doing something they loved. He will be missed, even by those of us that have never met him in person.
I still don't be able to get off the couch and staring at the ceiling.
That's an amazingly awful story… It's a huge reminder that Mother Nature doesn't discriminate no matter how skilled or seasoned.
Just having a close call myself even after taking all the proper proceedures, I can identify and sympathize with all concerned.
Makes you stop and think , I don't think you would have found much more outdoor experience than you could in these two. If it can happen to him............
I suppose - we need the wildness. ..Still, news like that is a kick to the gut.
I guess that these things can happen to even the most experienced of waterfowlers. I sure this will effect Worth for some time. My hays off to Worth for what he did to try and help rescue Dave. Worth put his life on the line to try and save his hunting partner and nothing more could be asked of Worth.
It's amazing just how fast the conditions can change even on waters that you are used to hunting in a small boat. It only takes five minutes for the wind to turn a flat water into bad seas.
Dave will be missed by many of his friends. I hope Worth is doing o.k.
Words can not express the profound feelings these events bring to bear on a joyous holiday weekend. The loss of one of our own to the conditions most of us covet is very quickly tempering the excitement of hunts planned for the days ahead. Hearing the dispair in Worths post on the MLB does not make it any easier.
God Bless all those touched by his life and death.
Sorry to hear of such a tragidy, not only for David's family but for Worth.
Losses experienced by others and shared in their posts:
We just lost a fellow member of the duck hunting fraternity here in northern Michigan. Weldon Slater, 60, capsized a Hoefgen skiff while attempting to retrieve a downed duck on a lake in the Curtis area three weeks ago. His hunting partner, Jim Wicks, of South Lake Decoys attempted a rescue but Weldon suffered a massive MI from cold water immersion
As a teen I helped save three duck hunters from hypothermia after their boat capsized and they were lucky enough to tread water to their blind.A little over a decade later,that same lake took the life of a duckhunter that I knew and his friend,two others survived.Sometimes we don't realize how quickly a situation on the water can change to a dangerous predicament.Like you Worth I have seen it up close and don't care to see it again
I was hunting on the same day 2 veteran Mobile hunters drowned about 6 years ago. It was Dec. 22 or 23. To this day, their families come out & put wreaths on the dock where they launched. All of us who see the wreaths and know why there are there take pause when we see those wreaths.
My father lost his best friend and his son to a bad NE gale in the 80's off the north coast of Massachusets. I think he still worries when I go now.
I still don't be able to get off the couch and staring at the ceiling.
A Devotion in Memory of David Boys
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down, in green pastures. He leadeth me besides the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.
Dear Lord, thank you for the gift of life which you gave us in David Boys. Thank you for his enthusiasm, joy and passion for the outdoors, passion for wildfowl and game of all sorts, passion for the people around him. Console his family with Your love. Give them hope that only You can give. Console all his friends. May Your love soften this blow, renew spirits, and point toward the meaning and purpose You offer through Your Son. In Your name. Amen.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you, may the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.
