Onno Ernst Mattheus' Obituary
Onno Ernst Mattheus
1947-2023
Onno Ernst Mattheus, 75, passed away at his home in Salt Lake City on April 15, 2023 after battling cancer. Onno was born on October 21, 1947 in Barsinghausen, Germany to Karl and Anne Mattheus. They immigrated to the United States when he was 6, along with his two brothers, Geerd and Heiko.
He spent his childhood in New Jersey and graduated from Pascack Valley Regional High School. Then he moved cross country to attend Utah State where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in forestry. There, he met the love of his life, Janell Pearce. They were married on August 26th, 1972 and were lucky to spend 45 wonderful years of marriage before Janell passed away. After losing his true love, life was never quite as bright for Onno.
After college, Onno and his best friend Kurt started a business called The Wood Wizards. Although he loved woodworking, he decided to pursue teaching once he knew that he and Janell were going to expand their family by adopting their daughter, Anna. He worked at West Lake Junior High as a woodshop teacher for more than two decades. During this time, he obtained his Master’s Degree. In his retirement he created fused glass artwork and became a member of the Glass Art Guild of Utah, where he was known for creating his ocean sea scapes. There he made many friends and enjoyed helping out the Guild.
Not many people are able to check off all of their bucket list items, but Onno did. He learned to paraglide, climbed to the base camp of Mount Everest, rode a camel in Egypt, hiked the Himalayas, and scuba dived around the world. Becoming an Opa to his granddaughter Emerson was “the icing on the cake!” He was happiest when he was in the mountains, surrounded by nature. He is survived by his daughter, Aneliisa Criswell (Rob), granddaughter Emerson Janell, brothers Geerd (Marcia), Heiko (Elaine) and sister Christina (Dan) as well as multiple nieces, nephews, and the Pearce family.
A celebration of Onno’s life will be held at the pavilion at Antzcak Park, 1850 E 7200 S. on Saturday, May 6th from 2:00-4:00pm.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in honor of Onno to saveourcanyons.org
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