Garth Matthews of Fiddlers' Sons dies
'He found the fresh air he had so been longing for'
P.E.I.'s music community is mourning the loss of Garth Matthews, the longtime bass player of the group Fiddlers' Sons, who died on the weekend.
The 65-year-old suffered from two lung conditions, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and relied on an oxygen tank to breathe as he awaited a double-lung transplant.
In February, Matthews went to the media with a call for more awareness about organ donation. Since then, the P.E.I. government has introduced a new registry, linked electronically to P.E.I. health card numbers, and it hopes that will make it easier for Islanders to donate organs or tissue.
Matthews' obituary says, "Our beloved Garth is now once again breathing easy ... He found the fresh air he had so been longing for."
His funeral will be held Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the Hillsboro Funeral Home in Stratford. He leaves behind his wife Rosemary, a daughter, a son and a stepson and several grandchildren.