A dad and fiance from Anderson was killed in a medical helicopter crash late last week and his funeral was held Friday in South Carolina.
Matt Mathews, age 41, was piloting a Airbus AS350 medical helicopter when the aircraft crashed near Eufaula, Okla.
Mathews, who leaves behind a teen son, was a veteran of the US Army, where he was a CH-47D pilot and served 2 tours in Iraq and 1 in Korea.
A nurse and a paramedic on board were hurt, but survived, KFOR-TV reported.
The group, employed by EagleMed LLC, was heading to home base after dropping off a patient at a Tulsa hospital when the crash happened late Thursday night.
Mathews met his fiancee, Lisa Lee, just 6 months ago and the pair were recently engaged, she told KFOR-TV.
The couple were planning their wedding and future together, when Lee received the news about Mathews’ death.
Lee is now constantly recalling the final words she exchanged with Mathews.
“I love you and I’ll text you when we land,” Lisa told KFOR-TV.
She was waiting for that text, but instead she received a phone call with tragic news.
“I was able to talk to him before they started to fly back towards McAlester, which was the last time that I was able to tell him that I love him, and found out at 11:45 they crashed at 11:30,” a tearful Lee told KFOR.
In the US Army, Mathews was a Warrant Officer 3. He attended Front Line Church in Oklahoma City.
Mathews had been flying medical helicopters for EagleMed for just over a year.
“He’s just an incredibly amazing person that changed my life and has forever changed my life,” Lee said. “Even if I knew I was going to have to relive this all over again. I would not take back those moments.”
