A Short Biography of Matthew Walker Gribbin
Matthew Walker Gribbin
March 1985 – April 2007
Matthew started life in Arlington, Virginia March 11, 1985, and spent his earliest years in Centreville, Virginia. In 1991 his mother was transferred by IBM to Dayton, Ohio. The family settled in Oakwood, south of Dayton, where he attended first and second grade at Oakwood Elementary School. Choosing Antioch for college was influenced in part by his fond memories of Ohio.
The Gribbin family was best known in Dayton for their full-time stay-at-home dad (reference Dayton Daily News, November 10, 1992). Returning to the D.C. area in 1993, Matthew fully participated in the Montgomery County, Maryland magnet programs, graduating from Montgomery Blair High School in 2003. Acting was Matthew’s passion which he expressed at BAPA’s Imagination Stage in Bethesda, Maryland. He played roles in various Shakespeare productions, a scoundrel in Carousel, and Aslan the lion in the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
In his usual self-directed style, in the summer after tenth grade, Matthew chose the only college he wanted to attend and joyfully became a part of the Antioch University community in Yellow Springs, Ohio in 2003. All that he longed for was there from the very start, including:
o a small campus setting (less than 300 people on-site during any term);
o classes with 10 or fewer students;
o an atmosphere where challenging professors and fellow students was encouraged;
o academics which would exercise his intellectual curiosity;
o an acceptance of each person for his individuality;
o the integrated co-operative program requiring them to regularly work out in the “real world;”
o and last but not least, more girls than boys. After all, Matthew wanted a fighting chance.
Matthew was one of the most recognizable people on campus with his long, mahogany-color hair, long beard, t-shirt, short jeans, and bare feet year round (even in snow!). Despite his unique appearance, Matthew was accepted into the faith community of Abiding Christ Lutheran Church in Fairborn, Ohio.
In addition to thriving on campus, Matthew was excited as a puppy to face his co-op challenges, the first of which came in his second term. The co-op experience is daunting: write a resume, find a possible 15-week job (translate “paid”), interview (often over the phone); get the job, and locate an affordable place to live. All those steps are even before starting work! Matthew easily adapted to the jobs, his employers and the various locations. With each job, he became more adept at managing the harder aspects of any co-op: commuting by whatever means possible, finding the work place on time the first day, “fitting in,” planning and preparing meals (in the broadest of definitions), developing and living on a budget, quickly establishing some social network to soften the sense of loneliness which every co-op student feels. Because he survived and soon thrived on the co-op assignments, Matthew openly listened to and counseled fellow co-op students when they needed him.
To gain broad experience in jobs, organization types and geographic locations, Matthew’s selections were quite diverse: The San Francisco Mime Troupe, Catholic Charities in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Bradley Center (a residential psychiatric facility for teens) in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, and the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden near Los Angeles. Matthew loved every moment of his co-op experiences and grew in so many ways.
Having fulfilled all the academic and co-op requirements of Antioch University, Matthew received his Bachelor of Arts with an emphasis in linguistics in April. Always forward-thinking, Matthew prepared to begin seminary in the fall to earn both a Master of Divinity and a Master of Social Work wanting to further his background to help others. In his humble way, Matthew described himself on the seminary application this way:
I come before you without honors; no lauds, no fanfare, no trumpeting of conquests and praises. Our God is a god of small things, and I am a man of small things. I give rides to lost strangers; I give hugs to distressed people; I proffer honest compliments to those in doubt; I offer food to those who come to me in hunger. No one will recognize me for my little works, but hopefully I am building up treasure in Heaven. I’m unintimidating; I speak well as a representative of Christianity in our ever-so-secular world. That’s all the honor I need, my code of honor as handed down to us by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Some members of the Antioch community feel that, even without being ordained, Matthew created and fulfilled his ministry.
Matthew leaves behind quite a legacy: a strong sense of self, living according to his deep faith, reaching out to others with kindness and caring, humor, and his healing hugs. Matthew truly wanted to accept Horace Mann’s challenge, “Be ashamed to die until you have achieved some victory for humanity”.