Matthew Clayton Marchant returned to his Heavenly Father on Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at the age of 36.He was born October 17, 1978 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Steven LaVell Marsden and Lori Annette Shaffer.Matt was later adopted by his father, Grant Hawkins Marchant.
Matt married his \"Sweetness\" Shanna Lee Deittman on May 12, 2012. Matt was thrilled to marry his \"Sidekick\" and find his best friend. They formed a small version of the Brady Bunch combining Shanna\s 2 daughters, Haley and Sophie and Matt\s son, Alex. The kids made the transition easy and enjoyable. Matt was previously married to Trinidee Brooks on December 27, 1999, joining together with her precious son, Brayden Brooks, and later adding their beloved son, Alex.
Matt was a brilliant human being, both personally and professionally, with a great ability to influence others. He had a fierce whit and incredible charm. He was constantly searching for his heart of gold. He loved to sing and performed for several years with a professional men's chorus; Because We Sing, directed by Ms. Merillee Webb. Matt loved music and played the saxophone, guitar, and piano.He enjoyed playing basketball and football and was a good student. Matt loved watching Alex play football and encouraging Brayden\sambition to fly airplanes. He thrilled in the pure excitement Sophie showed him every time she saw him; he was always her fist choice to play games with, and was in awe of Haley\s intelligence and creativity and often got involved in \"projects.\" He enjoyed being on lakes, boating and water skiing with family and Friends. An evening on the water made everything perfect. Matt and Shanna also enjoyed traveling, and as a family we were able to create many amazing memories.Matt was employed by Venafi as Director of Sales. He had just recently started this new profession, and loved the challenges it presented.
Matt\s life was filled with service to others, particularly those who had disabilities, or needed encouragement. Matt was honored to be able to go on a Church service mission in 2013 to Guatemala. He was able to build housing and stoves for families that had nothing. He came back from this experience obtaining a greater appreciation for life and his Savior. It was important that he and Shanna taught the children to give back, both in thought and action.
Although life never seemed like much of a challenge to an outsider, Matt was tormented with the demons of addiction. He fought these demons daily. There is no shame in this; he did his very best every day to be better than the last. As his spouse, I am proud of Matt and his battle. He fought the good one, with strength, diligence and courage. He was building a foundation of love for himself and his Savior, which transcended into all of us receiving the true blessing of seeing and feeling the real love of Matt. Matt was not his addiction, he was so much more; -all of us that are honoring, loving, remembering, and missing him know this. He found peace in the Celebrate Recovery Program. He and Shanna attended the Celebrate Recovery Summit in California last year and Matt chose to get baptized. Matt received so much friendship and love as he surrounded himself with those that understood his struggles and loved him unconditionally. I\d like to give a special thanks to Kim Kerr for his willingness to work diligently with Matt.If you are struggling, know that Matt would tell you that you are worth more than the addiction and that you deserve the light and joy of sobriety, that as impossible as it seems, you can go a day without a substance; you really can, just try it, and that if you can work your program, you can find a way to beat this. Call to him, he will be in your heart. Matt attended the South Mountain Community Church in Draper, Utah. He and his family were welcomed with open arms to become fully devoted and fully delighted in the love of Christ. I hope to eventually gain peace in knowing that he is no longer suffering, I will pray for this daily. For today I just want my husband back. \"Sometimes someone is sick, and someone who loves this sick person will want to help them. We say, just hold the image of them in a place of utter Well-being, and trust that through the path of least resistance, either they will recover and Well-being will be restored here, or they will withdraw and Well-being will be restored there. In either case, whether they stay or whether they have what you call a death experience, their Well-being is always restored.\" -Abraham. Although Matt is no longer with us, he is WELL and I count the days until being reunited with him.
Matt was a loving and caring husband, father, son, brother and grandson. He gave all that he could and loved deeply. He is survived by his wife Shanna, son Alex, stepson Brayden, stepdaughters Haley and Sophie, parents Grant, Lori, and Steven, siblings Melissa, Richard, and Katherine, grandmother Alice A. Shaffer, and extended family and friends who love him dearly and will miss many of his contributions of joy. He is preceded in death by his grandparents M. Ralph Shaffer, Jr. and Evan H. and LaRhea H. Marchant.
Funeral services for Matthew will be held on Monday June 15, 2015 at 12:00 Noon at Larkin Mortuary Riverton, 3688 West 12600 South, Riverton, UT, where a viewing will be held on Sunday evening from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., and on Monday morning from 10:45 to 11:45 a.m. prior to the services. Condolences for the family are welcomed at www.larkinmortuary.com.
\"Every day is day one. No matter where you are in the story of your life right now, today is a new day. And tomorrow is a new day, too! In our journey of faith, every day is day one.\" We love and miss you tremendously.
