The colorful, artificial flowers that now decorate the crash
site where 18-year-old Matthew Mikaelsson lost his life won’t
wither and turn brown like the elaborate bouquets that adorned his
memorial service, and still stand in his family’s living room one
year after his death.
The colorful, artificial flowers that now decorate the crash site where 18-year-old Matthew Mikaelsson lost his life won’t wither and turn brown like the elaborate bouquets that adorned his memorial service, and still stand in his family’s living room one year after his death.
And the memories held by those close to the late swimmer, musician and friend are unlikely to fade anytime soon. Friends and family members still write comments on his Facebook page, and his parents visit the crash site at least once a week to keep it clean for others to place items in his memory.
“We miss him every minute,” said Matthew’s father Jan Mikaelsson, 56, who calls his son Matt, at the family’s home on Capistrano Way. “I miss the future with him. We were going to go fishing, and camping, and go to the mountains. We had so much fun together.”
Matt Mikaelsson, a Live Oak High School senior, died when his Mitsubishi Eclipse crashed into a tree on Condit Road in a single-car accident Dec. 18, 2008. The car hit the tree on the driver’s door. Mikaelsson’s passenger, a 17-year-old friend, was uninjured in the crash.
Mikaelsson’s autopsy report, completed almost six months later by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner, found no drugs or alcohol in his body. The report said he died of “multiple blunt force injuries.”
Jan and Patti Mikaelsson, Matt’s mother, said the decor of their house hasn’t changed much since their son’s memorial service Dec. 29, 2008 at St. Claire’s Church in Santa Clara. Photos of Matt with his parents, his two sisters, and by himself smiling brightly with – not at – the photographer are displayed in the home’s foyer. Two poster-sized collages with dozens of pictures of Matt, plus some nature shots he took, decorate the kitchen, and a framed LCD in the TV room runs a constant slideshow of digital images.
His parents described the close relationship the family has always had, explaining the difficulty they still have with the grief a year after Matt’s death.
“We were five of the best friends,” Jan Mikaelsson said. “When your children go before you, that’s not the natural order.”
They recalled Matt’s helpfulness to everyone he knew, especially his sisters who he swam and played music with. His parents described the enthusiasm with which he organized backyard soccer games, and how Matt taught his younger sister how to swim.
“Matt really listened to people,” said mother Patti Mikaelsson. “He would motivate and encourage people. He even did that to me. He was so intelligent that way.”
She added that the family misses the “silliness” that is taken for granted in teen behavior. Sister Michelle Mikaelsson, 16, laughed about how Matt repeatedly wanted her to videotape him riding his skateboard.
Michelle now swims on Live Oak’s girls swim team. The year-round team on which she swims has a meet this weekend in Long Beach, where the Mikaelssons will spend the anniversary of Matt’s death together.
Matt’s older sister Amanda, 21, is a music major at San Jose State University. The three siblings, with Matt on saxophone, used to perform every Christmas eve at Church of the Ascension in Saratoga.
After he died, Patti Mikaelsson sent out letters to “hundreds” of people who knew Matt. The letters contained a message from Matt’s parents to their deceased son, as well as some essays, artwork and school assignments he had produced throughout his childhood.
The tree into which Matt Mikaelsson collided has been cut down since his crash, but the stump is still there and was adorned with artificial flowers, a statue of an angel, and a framed picture of Matt Thursday morning.
One of his friends who still visits the site regularly is former Live Oak classmate Alyssa Hamlin, who sat next to Mikaelsson in anatomy class the semester before he died. She recalled hanging out with Matt after school, and the “adventures” they shared like riding on the back of his bicycle.
The last time she went to the crash site was Matt’s birthday Oct. 26, when she “gave him flowers and a balloon.”
“Sometimes when I think about him I’ll start to cry,” Hamlin said. “I miss the jokes, and just hanging out and talking. He was a fun-loving person who would be down to do anything, anytime.”
Mikaelsson’s former swim team coach at Live Oak, Mack Haines, said days after his death that the teen was a “gifted swimmer.” He said this week that school staff have discussed the one-year anniversary of Mikaelsson’s death as a reminder that teenagers should drive carefully now that the rainy season is here.
“Thinking about Matt and how they miss him, and how tragic (the accident) was, hopefully kids will keep that in mind while driving during the winter months,” Haines said.
A permanent memorial, a bench with Mikaelsson’s name engraved on it, was set up in the quad at Live Oak shortly after he died. School staff did not know if a formal remembrance ceremony was being planned among the students.
Patti, 50, said her daughters haven’t talked much about Matt in the last year, contrasting the “lonely” feeling the topic enhances with the need to grieve in the wake of such a tragedy.
“The first thing I realized I needed to do was to make sure my daughters had a happy life,” Patti said through tears. “Life. I sum it up by saying it’s one more day shared with my daughters, and one day closer to Matthew.”
