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Part One, Two, Three

Recital - Spring 2004

Matthew was born in Jacksonville, Florida on Monday, March 10, 1986. When he was a little over one year old, the family moved to Brockway, Pennsylvania for two years. In August of 1989 the family moved to Dahlonega. Dahlonega has been his home ever since. Matthew attended Lumpkin County Elementary School, Westminster Christian School in Gainesville, and Lumpkin County High School. While an 8th grader at Westminster, he had the opportunity to take a 10 day trip to Europe. Matthew loved it. This trip ignited his passion for foreign languages. Matthew had a hunger to learn and completed the highest Mathematics and Foreign Language courses offered by LCHS by his Junior year. He did most of his Senior Year of High School at North Georgia College and State University. He made the President’s List with a perfect 4.0 while taking Calculus 2, Intermediate French, Intermediate Spanish, and Beginning German. His love for foreign languages may be better understood in light of the fact that he was elected President of the NGCSU German Club by his college peers, while a High School Senior/College Freshman. He was graduated from LCHS with honors as the 2004 Salutatorian.

Matthew enrolled at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and began classes in the Fall of 2004. He immediately fell in love with the beautiful campus, the faculty and administration, and the other students at Vandy. A few weeks after returning from the 2004 Christmas break, Matthew was jogging around the Vandy perimeter with a friend and experienced numbness in his right leg. In February of 2005 Matthew was diagnosed with a high grade malignant brain tumor. After two surgeries to remove the large tumor and physical therapy and while still receiving radiation treatments, Matthew returned to class and finished the semester. An MRI at the close of the Spring 2005 semester revealed a recurrence of more tumor below the original tumor site. After finding a chemotherapy that worked well, the tumor disappeared and as late as April of 2006, Matthew was doing well. In early May, Matthew began having some blurred and double vision as well as some problems with balance. MRIs revealed two new areas of tumor activity, one just a little inside the left temple area and one at the top of the brain stem. Several more chemotherapies were tried, but none seemed to have any effect. An MRI on July 15th revealed that the tumor inside the temple area was now about the size of a walnut and another new tumor closer to the site of the original tumor also about the size of a walnut. The tumor at the brain stem had increased in size as well, but not as dramatically. On July 16, Matthew, along with Ray and Anita, attended Community Bible Church in Nashville for what would be not only his last time in church there, but the last time he was able to attend any church service. Matthew loved his church, both CBC in Nashville, and Berea here in Dahlonega. Matthew loved people. When he smiled, his whole face smiled! Sometimes Matthew would almost close his eyes when he smiled. He loved to smile and he loved the smiles that he received in return.

We have many memories of our beloved son, but the most significant of those is the fact that he had trusted in the Lord Jesus as his personal Savior. The picture of his baptism is one of our most treasured pictures. Not because baptism impressed God in any way, but because his baptism was a symbol of his simple childlike faith in the Lord Jesus and the full sufficiency of His sacrifice on the cross. Water baptism is like a wedding ring. A ring does not make you married, but it signifies that you are married. Baptism does not wash away your sins, but it signifies that your sins have been washed in the precious blood of the Lamb of God on the basis of your simple faith in the Lord Jesus.

We are grateful for 20 wonderful years and many, many wonderful friends. We are saddened by our loss but encouraged in the sure knowledge of Matthew’s presence in Heaven. He is gone from this earth, but he is not lost, for we know where he is. Though it feels like “good-bye”, we know that in reality, for those of us who have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ it is merely, “see-you-later”. Heaven is more dear to us than it has ever been. Many of our loved ones await us in that blessed place. Our sweet precious Matthew has now crossed over into the perfect healing that is found in the full presence of Jesus. We will miss him greatly. The hole that his passing has left in our hearts will never be filled.

Thanks to all who loved Matthew and who love us. Your love has been one of the means God has used to sustain us in these most difficult days of our lives. Now, more than ever, we rest in the sure promises of the Word of God and the sweet and never-ending love of our Blessed Savior.

Ray Prince, Matthew’s Dad

Thank you for visiting. If you would like to place a comment on this site, please e-mail rjprince(at)matthewprince.net. (at) = @

Picture "Home at Last" used by special permission of www.inspired-art.com. Special thanks to artist Danny Hahlbohm for his kindness in allowing us to place this on Matthew's site. This picture was a great encouragement to our family during our time of loss. It is a great comfort to know that Jesus was there to welcome Matthew home. This painting wonderfully captures that truth and the person receiveing the hug from Jesus looks a lot like our own Matthew. You can view this picture and more of Danny's work by clicking on the picture (use Shift+click to open a new window). You can also purchase and download Power Point presentations of Danny's work on his site.