Community Says Goodbye to One of Its Own

Chances are, it didn't matter to the hundreds of people who came to Matthew Ryan Budesa's wake Monday just how and why the car he was driving slammed into the Pine Beach Elementary School, killing him and two other friends late last week.

What mattered was supporting Pine Beach Councilman Robert Budesa, his wife Linda and Matthew's three older brothers, Robert Jr., William and Michael. What mattered was saying goodbye to the bearded young man in his casket, now forever 20 years old.

And if  you entered the Anderson and Campbell Funeral Home on Main Street in Toms River by the front door Monday afternoon,  you would have made a mistake.

"Watch your step," said a woman who greeted people at the door. "The end of the line is down the hall."

Several hundred people stood quietly, lining long hallways and spilling out the back entrance and onto the walkway of the funeral home. Every space in the parking lot was taken. Cars lined both sides of Dayton Avenue for more than a block.

Robert Budesa Jr. came out to those standing in the back and apologized for the long wait.

"Everybody, thank you for coming," he said. "I'm sorry about the wait. We just had the service. It means a lot to us."

"No apologies needed," one man in line said to him.

Beachwood Mayor Ronald W. Jones was one of the many waiting his turn in line. Matthew, a friend of Jones' son, had just been to his house recently.

"If you baked a community pie, Pine Beach and Beachwood would share halves," Jones said. "These are sister communities. They are totally devoted to each other."

Four Pine Beach police officers stood vigil outside the room Matthew was in.

A computer monitor flickered with a photo gallery — pictures of Matthew from nearly every year of his short life. Matthew at Disneyworld. Matthew as a small towheaded boy, looking up joyously at the sky by the duck pond at Jeffrey's Creek in nearby Ocean Gate. Matthew in a baseball uniform. Matthew's 2009 graduation picture from Toms River High School South.

Inside, Councilman Robert Budesa, his eyelids swollen almost to slits, could barely keep back tears as he greeted people and thanked them for coming. Matthew's mother Linda sat in a chair, her eyes covered with sunglasses.

"What can you say," she said to one man paying his respects, as her gaze drifted over to Matthew. In his casket was his Yankee baseball cap, a Boy Scout mug, a Christian cross and a banner reading "Beloved Brother."

Matthew and his two friends; Kimberly Van Gorden, 20, Beachwood; and Matthew Witzgall, 21, Toms River, all died when the 2011 Hyundai Accent he was driving crashed into the wall of the Pine Beach Elementary School.

Police have said the car was traveling at a high rate of speed when it careened into the brick wall of the school that Matthew attended as a child and tore a six-by six-foot hole in the school's media center. There were no skid marks at the scene. None of the three wore seat-belts.

The accident happened sometime between 4:30 a.m., when a borough police officer made a routine check around the school, and 6:48 a.m., when a school employee arriving for work discovered the car and dialed 911, Police Chief John Sgro has said. All three died of multiple traumatic injuries, according to autopsies performed by the Ocean County Medical Examiner's Office late last week.

In lieu of flowers, the Budesa family has asked that donations be made to the Matthew Budesa Memorial Scholarship fund, c/o Sovereign Bank, 300 Atlantic City Boulevard, Pine Beach, NJ 08741.

The Carmona-Bolen Home for Funerals is handling the arrangements for Kimberly Van Gorden. Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, at the funeral home at 412 Main St. in Toms River.

The Weatherhead-Young Funeral Home on Mantoloking Road in Brick is handling the arrangements for Matthew Witzgall. Visitation was held from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Monday. A Mass of Christian Burial was held at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 8 at the Church of the Visitation in Brick.

The accident is under investigation by the Prosecutor's Office's Vehicular Homicide Unit and the Fatal Accident Support Team. Anyone with any information may call Detective John Hill at 732-929-2027, ext. 3223.

Michael Mohel, Deputy Chief of Detectives for the Prosecutor's Office, has declined to comment on what he called "rumors and speculation" in other media reports that drugs were found in the car or that the crash may have been part of a suicide pact. It could be weeks before the results of toxicological tests are in, he has said.

But that didn't matter Monday to those who came to Anderson and Campbell. They came to say goodbye.