Two years ago, the 19-year-old daughter of Donna and Redgie Mattern died. The Matterns, shown above, of Manheim, keep Jennifer's memory alive as members of a support group for bereaved parents, Compassionate Friends, whose credo states "we need not walk alone."
The local chapter of the nationwide organization will hold its fifth annual Walk to Remember at 11 a.m. Sunday, July 20, starting in the lower-level Kohl's department store entrance at Park City Center. Participants should gather by 10:45 a.m. The event will coincide with a walk in Nashville, Tenn., site of Compassionate Friends' national conference.
This marks the third year the Matterns will honor Jennifer in the walk. Jennifer died suddenly in May 2006; the cause of her death was never established, Donna Mattern said. But the Matterns will rally for Jennifer with approximately 25 family members and friends at Park City for the Walk to Remember.
The couple also honors their daughter in a unique, touching way; they own several "Memory Bears," plush stuffed animals created by Janet Keller, of Dover, York County.
Keller, with her husband, Dave, leads York's chapter of Compassionate Friends. Janet Keller makes stuffed bears from clothing that once belonged to deceased loved ones.
The Kellers know some of the Matterns' grief. Their son Joe Keller died at age 14 in 1994, trying to save a friend in a low-head dam accident.
Donna and Redgie Mattern had some bears made from Jennifer's clothing and gave one to each of their mothers last Mother's Day; three others are shown above.
"I keep one in my car and my husband keeps one in his car," said Donna Mattern, who added that they even strap seatbelts around their traveling companions. She said she's not sure yet if the bears will be accompanying them on the Compassionate Friends' walk, but just having something of Jennifer in their cars, she said, reminds them that "she's always with us."
Compassionate Friends meets at 7 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month at New Life Assembly of God Church, 1991 Old Philadelphia Pike. For information on the group or the upcoming Walk to Remember, call LaVon Harnish, 653-8220.
Stephen Kopfinger is a Sunday News staff writer. Contact him at skopfinger@lnpnews.com or at 291-8799.
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