Hundreds fill church for former high school athlete Matthew Manley

LEWISTON – Some mourners wept. Some ran to their cars, seeking warmth against the cold. And some, like Jackie Stowe, clutched a family member almost desperately.

“It should make you appreciate your kid,” said the mother, who gripped her son Ben’s arm as they walked Friday from the funeral of 18-year-old Matthew Manley.

Her heart breaks for Manley’s mother, Joanne Pike-Manley, she said. “I’ve lost a child,” she said. “That pain will never go away.”

Stowe joined hundreds of people who filled the South Lewiston Baptist Church to say goodbye to the athlete and college student, one of six people killed in car accident early on Christmas Eve.

“Matt was the type of guy who lived for his friends,” said Stowe’s son, Ben, who attended Lewiston High School with Manley. “I bet half of the people in the church could say they were his best friend.”

Inside, there was standing room only. Mourners’ cars filled the church lot, the motel next door and the florist’s across the street.

The hour-long service included a eulogy by Jason Fuller, athletic director at the high school. A student musician, Daniel Rand, played the cello. A video of images from Manley’s life played, too.

There were pictures of him as a boy playing soccer and basketball. And there were recent photos, taken only a short time before his fatal crash.

“I never thought that anything like this would happen,” said Katelyn Sirois, who went to school with Manley. They’d been friends since they were 5 years old.

Manley was with friends when he died.

He was a passenger in the Nissan Altima that police say crossed the center line on Route 122 in Poland. With him were Jacob Roy, 20, of Lewiston; Robert Bruce, 19, of Auburn; and driver Michael Cournoyer, 20, of Auburn.

All four attended Lewiston High together. All four died when their car hit a Dodge Spirit, driven by Steven Walton, 27, of Poland. He and his fiance, Laura Caron, 25, were also killed.

At the time of his death, Manley was studying business management at Central Maine Community College.

But it was his high school days, particularly the sports, that most people talked about Friday. He played lacrosse and soccer all four years at LHS and basketball for three years.

Travis Massod of Lewiston remembered Manley trying to help him along in soccer, when others might have ignored him.

Young women talked about his smile.

“Nobody’s perfect, but he had a perfect smile,” said Kafia Ibrahim, another classmate.

Manley’s ability to create and keep friends was at the center of the eulogy by Fuller, who had served as the boy’s coach.

“You didn’t see him alone,” Fuller said after the service. “That whole group was extremely close.”