It is with a heavy and saddened heart that I write this article. Matt Legge was a member of our wakeboarding and Wakeboarder.com community for quite some time.
Legge or “Leggester” as we called him in the Wakeboarder.com forum was a staple here and an elder statesman of the forum. He'll truly be missed and remain in our hearts. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with his family.
In today’s world it is strange sometimes, how we find ourselves immersed in such a tight nit community not just through conversation or gatherings, but also through the use of a key board and mouse. It is individuals like Matt that make this possible.
His clear unequivocal love for his wife Kathy, his daughter Alicia, his sons Chris and Stephen and his family, his candor, appreciation of those things most precious to him, his humor, his advice, compassion, enjoyment of the outdoors and his political rants were all reasons we loved interacting with Matt. As a brief illustration of this in Matt’s own words:
When someone was bagging on IT Tech Support (Matt’s profession), his witty humor came out:
Posted: Jan 09, 2006 5:49 pm
Subject: I love Tech Support
"I AM technical support. A Software Engineer for a fairly renowned company. You gotta problem w'me?"
His philosophies wrapped up in his own way:
"While I'll never be "rich", I do live comfortably. Also, I have probably the lowest stress levels of anyone I know, including my wife.
I tend to plan for the future, yet live in the day.
I've had ups and downs, believe me. In the software world the past 25 years, there is and was NO job security. I learned in my early twenties that stress will kill you. I had ulcers and more grey hair than I do today.
I've dealt with poverty and the repo man ( house ) and yet I still have much more than most people.
My life changed when I learned there is soooo much more to life than work.
Work to live. Don't live to work." ~ Matt
Or when he was asked about THE reason
for his last job change:
Forum: Non-Wakeboarding
Posted: Jan 09, 2006 8:51 am
Subject: Reasons For
“To be able to stay at home with my family.
I was on the road 95% of the first 6 months of my daughter's life.
Significant pay cut, significant quality of life increase. ”
Referring to the loves of his life the day before his passing.
We have lost a great person that many of us have found commonality and friendship with. We’ll miss you and we’ll see you riding butter or floating on powder someday, brother. Rest in Peace and Godspeed, Matt.
For those who would like to donate to the family, a Paypal fund has been set up to provide an avenue for this on-line community to speak with one voice (see instructions below). This fund will be redirected to Matt's family. Any donations and/or emails, letters, etc. that are sent through this fund will be bundled in a few weeks and mailed to his family. Hopefully, this gesture will show them even clearer, how great of a man he was.
Please follow these instructions for donations or letters, etc.
Donations can be made to the Matt Legge (aka Leggester) "Legge Fund" on behalf of the WB.com community through www.Paypal.com or by mail. leggefund@yahoo.com is the email to use for Paypal. If you choose to use Paypal, please use the Bank Account method, unless you are ok with a small fee being taken by Paypal.com for using E-Check or Credit Cards.
Also, if you cannot donate monetarily, but would like to contribute, his family would appreciate just as much, a note or email sent to the leggefund@yahoo.com address. You may also PM me for my address, if you prefer to send a check via mail or a handwritten note.
All donations will be sent through to his family through the method or Charity/Trust selected by them. The account that we are using will be closed on 2/24/06 (unless funds are still being received) and then the donations and any notes/emails will sent through to the Legge Fund care of the Wakeboarder.com community.