Matthew John Piette

 Matthew John Piette, the youngest of the seven children of Claire Marin (deGravelles) Piette and Lawrence Joseph Piette was born 60 years ago today. 

Matt's Birth Photo

Our mother recorded this in her “Blue Book”: 

“May 24 - Went to the hospital today at 6:30 and our little Matthew John was bord at 10:30. He is a fine, healthy baby – 8 lb. 11oz and 21 inches long

“May 29 – I came home today – everyone welcomed Matt. Charlie went on his class picnic to Waupaca”

I remember that day. We went over to a neighbor’s house to stay. I am pretty sure it was the Hanson’s house. (When Ree was born we went to the Hauch’s house)

Here is a photo of Matt in his baptismal gown. One may wonder why Chas is holding him instead of one of his Godparents – Mark or Mel. The answer is that this day was also Charlie’s graduation day from St Mary’s. He would be off to the seminary the next year.

I don’t think he was inspired to his vocation by his younger brother, but you never know.

Charles and Matthew

We were a big family, and we always were around to play with the “Little Kids” (ie, Ree and Matt)

Matt being fed a caramel by Dan

Here I am feeding him a caramel when he was only six months old. I was a very good big brother. 

Around the same time, we took what was probably our first “Stair” picture with all seven kids. They go:

Mark (14 years old), Melanie (12, holding Matt), Chas (14, soon to be 15)

Dan (6), Ree (2), Abbie (8)

It must have been Thanksgiving, because I don’t know why else Chas would have been home from the seminary. I believe that Mel is wearing her St Mary’s uniform.

The Seven Piette Kids

It is funny to see what gets photographed, preserved, and handed down, and what does not. This is a photo of our mother playing, no doubt “Who’s a BIG BOY” with Matt. I guess he believes that he is. 

Our Sainted Mother and Matthew

And of course, our mother came from a big family as well. The second youngest in her family was Jeannette, whom we knew as Noey (I think I explained that earlier – short story is that her preference to discipline young kids, especially Mark, led to this sobriquet) 

But you can see how comfortable the little potato is in her hands.

 

Noey and Matt

 

Matthew, putting on a show

Matthew, putting on a show.

This photo of Matt is really interesting for a couple of reasons. His hat is a plastic container that we used to store powdered milk that we bought by the hundredweight and then broke down into smaller containers (coffee cans usually) and then reconstituted into wet milk using these containers. Not sure how he got hold of one. Then in the background, you can see the sewing machine (that was used a lot) in the dining room. On the wall is a silhouette of (I am pretty sure) Abbie, and a photo of the deGravelles sisters. The playpen was in between the living room and the dining room.

Ree feeding Matt

I am not sure why we have so many photos of Matt being fed. Here is being fed by a very determined Ree. “Open your gob! I am going to force this down your goozle-pipe!” is what she was thinking. 

Matt playing with BD while he naps

Matt playing with BD while he naps

Every night after dinner (which we ate at 4:25, as soon as our father got home from work) BD (our father – Big Dog) would take a nap on the floor, using the first step of the stairs as a pillow. He could sleep anywhere, but it also gave all the kids an opportunity to rough house on top of him. This was one of his favorite tricks – holding the kids up as if he was a chair.

Dan and Matt at the Milwaukee County Zoo

I remember this trip to the Milwaukee County Zoo. It was quite the time. Though the photo says “September” this had to have been taken earlier in the summer.

Matt and Grandad feeding chickens

Matt and Grandad feeding chickens

Every summer we visited Franklin, LA and stayed with our grandparents. They raised sugar cane, and had chickens for eggs and meat. Every day, Granddad would feed the chickens and collect the eggs. Here is Matt helping. Note his little jumper.

Matt punching Mark in the head

Coming from a big family, you are always having fun. Here, Matt is playing a game called “Punch Mark in the Head” This was probably after they were playing a game called “Turtle” where Mark would put Matt in a cardboard box, butt first (so the box was like his shell) and then put him on top of the ironing board upside down in the basement – the go upstairs and turn out the lights. We all liked that game, especially Matt.

Matthew, after slipping on the ice

Cameras were not always around like they are today. So the speculation about this photo is that young Matthew slipped on the ice, and one of his siblings quickly ran inside, not to get help, but to get the Brownie, so that this moment could be captured in eternity. I think that everyone (well, except maybe for Matt) was happy with that decision.

Our mother passed away in January of 1969 at the age of 44. Her sister, Jeannette, had come up to stay with us during her last days. She became a mother to Ree and Matt, even going so far as to legally adopt them. I am pretty sure that Noey is the only mother that Matt (and maybe Ree) ever knew. Here we are on a trip to the Red Mill – a historic location in, I believe, Waupaca.

We were always a very close family, and I was always extremely close to my younger brother. I felt responsible for him in many ways, especially after our mother died. He was in kindergarten in this photo (above), and I was in 6th grade, at the same school (Jefferson). We would walk together to school in the morning, and he went home at noon. When our mother was sick, I would walk him over to our aunt’s house and leave him there so he would not be alone. It was really a hard time. But we developed a bond that cannot be broken.

Matt and Ree at the gate to Pierce Park

We were lucky to live only two blocks away from a great park in Appleton – Pierce Park. We frequented the park regularly, and made good use of the facilities, even if it was just climbing on the stone walls.

Matt and Dan

All the seven kids are close, and you can see that in this photo. By this time I was in high school, probably a senior. But we still loved spending time together.

Matt with what looks like is a professional haircut. Maybe his first

Ree and Matt. The Little Kids

Ree and Matt were very close. They hung around together, they played together, and it looks like Ree even help Matthew collect his coins. I wonder what happened to all those coins.

Matt's high school graduation photo

I am missing a lot of photos of Matt when he was in High School and when he went to Madison.

We stayed close throughout these years. He came to Madison to stay with me more than once, usually with one or another of his buddies in tow. 

It was always great to have him visit. It was something of a Piette tradition to visit older siblings at Madison. For some reason the folks never balked at letting them come to visit. Not that they believed we were angels, probably thinking that this was a good way to let the little kids blow off some steam.

This travel tradition continued after I graduated from college as well. 

Matt came to visit me a couple of times that first year I was in Houston – 1980, which I believe was his senior year of high school. There were a couple of very memorable moments on those trips.

He spent the Christmas of 1980 with me, and we cooked a goose for our meal. It turned out fantastic, but we had decided to try and put the entire carcass down the garbage disposal. While entertaining, I can tell you this – it was not a good idea.

There was also an amusing incident when Matt came down to visit after he was in college. He was visiting with one of his buddies, and we had taken a trip to Bear Creek Park. I will use a more contemporaneous account of that encounter.

 

Matt being attacked by a duck at Bear Creek Park in Houston

Bob (one of Matt’s buddies) and Matt were visiting Houston in the early 80s. It was fun having them down for a visit, and I think that it was here that Bob began his lifelong love of agricultural products and wastewater treatment. 

There were various encounters with strange and delightful animals on this trip, but in some ways it was sort of like a horror movie gone bad. Earlier in the week, we had returned from getting kicked out of Gilliey’s Roadhouse (remember Gilley’s? It was Mickey Gilley’s bar that was featured in the movie Urban Cowboy. Anyway, we drove down to Pasadena (often called Pasa-get down-dena) to have a beer or two with the refinery workers. As we were entering the bar, Bob bumped into the biggest, meanest looking boilermaker that you had ever seen. Bob yelled “Watch where you’re going, you dumb redneck!” and mayhem ensured. Suffice it to say that we were not invited back to meet Mickey and share a beer with him) and were coming up the driveway of our little house on Lyndonville Street (Lyndon as in the president, not Linden as in the street in Berlin) and as we poured out of the car, an armadillo scurried across our lawn! That was amazing. Bob, being the agricultural expert that he is, started chasing the little beast. He got up to it, and then kicked it like a football! It went flying through the air. Luckily, armadillos are tough (Armadillo translates to “little armored one”  from the Spanish) and it survived in tact. Oddly enough, it looks like there was a duck flying by at the very moment that the armadillo was airborne. Was there an exchange between the two? Who can say… 

The next day, we drove down to Bear Creek Park and spent some nice quality time walking around and watching the animals. We happened to have some pecans in the shell with us (I am not sure why. I guess that we were worried that the car would break down and we would have to have some provisions) and started feeding various animals. The most entertaining to feed were the Rheas, which would swallow the pecans whole, in their shell. You could see them go down their throats!

As we were walking back to the car, however, a male mallard (the one in the photo) spied us. From about 100 yards distant. We were walking down the street, and this duck lifted his head, stopped, looked long and hard at us, and then lowered his head and started running – that weird waddling run that ducks do when they are angry – at the three of us. We noticed it, but thought nothing of it. Why would we worry about a running duck 100 yards away? But we should have. Or rather, MATT should have. This duck made a bee-line right form Matt’s feet. As it came up to him, it started pecking at his feet in the most aggressive manner. Matt tried walking away, to no avail. Then he tried gently pushing the duck away, again to no effect, Finally, he had to run at full speed away, with the duck in full pursuit. He had to sit in the car while Bob and I enjoyed wandering around the aviary.

I think that everyone here knows that armadillos are notoriously short sighted, but they have a great sense of smell. IT turns out that Bob had borrowed Matt’s shoes the night before (you can’t get into Gilley’s with tennis shoes), so when he booted the beast, he must have smelled Matt (and blood and beer) on the shoes.

And oddly enough, as Bob and I were walking back to the car, we saw an armadillo watching that duck from the bar ditch…

  

Noey, Laurie, Matthew, BD

Then in 1991, the best thing that ever happened to Matthew happened. He was able to marry the love of his life, Laurie.

We were all thrilled to have such a wonderful person join the family. And she fit right in

They married in Milwaukee, where Matt had been living since graduating from UW in Chemical Engineering. 

Not sure how it could have been a better match.

Laurie and Matt on their wedding day

And while some people call their spouses live savers, in Matt’s case this was literally true.

He was diagnosed with cancer when he was 29, and if Laurie had not been with him, and knew what the consequences were, one wonders if he would have been able to make it though.

The day after Matt's surgery in 1992

It was a very harrowing time for everyone in the family. He had his operation at the Mayo Clinic. They have good medicine in Minnesota.

I guess you can say it worked, since he is still around now in 2023, 31 years later.

And to Matthew’s credit, he never brings up this sad time in his life. As he put it as this was happening, “Some people have asked me if I had wondered “why me?”. But I look around at the world, and ask myself “why not me?”” It was a heathy way to look at the world, and this outlook has served him well.

And since he doesn’t dwell on it, neither will I.

 

The Brothers: Dan, Matt, Chas, Mark by the Fox River in Appleton, WI

Matt continues to travel, and he continues to be one of the bedrocks of the family. Since moving to Milwaukee, it is clear that he will never leave, and it gives all of us a solid place to land when needed. He is generous with his time and space, and he and Laurie cannot be better hosts.

And, of course, they continue to travel. 

 

Matt, Laurie, El Coronel, and me in San Juan de los Morros

When I was living in Venezuela, Matt and Laurie came down to visit.

We had a great time both in Caracas and out in the country. I was friends with a retired colonel of the artillery in the Venezuelan army. He had a small farm in the town of San Juan de Los Morros, not too far from Caracas. 

We stayed with the colonel, and the accommodations were, well, let’s say basic.

But nobody complained. It was a wonderful trip

 

Matt, me, and El Coronel

We had the opportunity to walk through parts of the Venezuelan rain forest, we were able to take in a Venezuelan baseball game (the Leones de Caracas vs the Navegantes del Magallanes) and had many good meals.

And for some reason, Matt is always there when I have some catastrophic plumbing problems. In this case it was my toilet exploding because I had essentially put a penny in the fuse box of my little water heater, and the superheated water forced its way back into the toilet tank, which cracked from the heat. A story probably better told in person than on the page. It was something to see.

One of the highlights of the trip is when we saw a jaguarundi crossing the road in front of us as we were driving back to Caracas from San Juan de Los Morros. 

Matt and Laurie also came to visit me when I was living in Singapore.

 

Dan and Matt in Singapore

This was another adventurous trip. We decided that Singapore was not exciting enough, so we spent a couple of days in Kuching on the island of Borneo (sadly, I have no photos from that part of the trip). 

The hotel in Kuching was right on the Sarawak river, and we were able to see rafts of logs floating down to the port for export.

We had one the best meals of the trip there – a beggar’s chicken (chicken encased in clay and baked to tender deliciousness) and of course, plenty of Tiger beers.

But one of the most interesting parts of that trip was our expedition to the Bako National Park.

We did know much about the park, but we arranged for transportation via the hotel. We were not surprised when we saw the boat, that looked something like this:

And then we went speeding down the Sarawak River into the South China Sea.

But as we got closer and closer to the park, we could not see any landing spots. Just a beach. We joked the pilot of the boat was going to stop and just kick us off the boat. Then he stopped, and pointed at our shoes (he did not speak English) and made gestured that we should get out of the boat. 

It was about 100 yards to shore, but what else could we do? We got out of the boat and walked to shore. He assured us that we would return later that day to pick us up. We hope that was true. 

We eventually found the park entrance, and paid our nominal fee and walked in.

We had a very harrowing five mile hike up and down mountains, watching out for six in long leeches and foot high pitcher plants, and not having enough water, we finally made it back down to the park headquarters.

There, we were assaulted by monkeys, and impressed by a HUGE bearded pig that was wandering around the grounds.

We finally made it back to Kuching, then Singapore, and Matt and Laurie sadly went home.

And Matt’s travels continued.

They not only traveled to big cities around the world.

But the also made a point of going to lesser known destinations like Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania. There are no bounds to his curiosity.

 

Matt and Little Charlie (Nordholm) on Charlie's wedding day

Matthew is not only the beloved baby of our family, but also the well loved and respected Uncle Matt to all the niblings. He is generous with every one of these kids, and was even asked by Charlie Nordholm (son of the head pounder) to perform his wedding.

It was a joyful affair and brought tears to many eyes.

Matt has sort of a side-gig performing weddings. I can’t even remember how many he has officiated. But the reason for this is that he takes it very, very seriously. He takes the time to understand the folks getting married, and weaves their story into each ceremony. It is so much fun to hear him telling stories about the couple, how they met, and how important they are to each other.

 

Dan and Matt

We are still very close to each other, though living in separate cities.

Chas, Matt, Dan, Mark

The boys got a photo together at Noey’s funeral.

As did the whole family:

Jeannette, Matt, Mel, Chas, Dan, Abbie, Mark

 

Matt at work

I have not written much about Matt’s job, but he has been working for Quikrete as the manager for southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois for quite some time now.

He started there by running the Milwaukee plant, which he quickly drove into the most profitable plant in the area, then in the company. This man has his feet in concrete! (or is it cement?)

Then they gave him two more plants, both of these in Illinois,  to drive to success. Of course he did that as well.

His success there is fantastic, delivering profits to the company, and a good working environment for employees. 

They have tried to promote him to their corporate HQ in Atlanta more than once, but he won’t leave his beloved Milwaukee. And why should he?

 

Matt, Dan, Abbie, Mark, and Mel at the family reunion

There is not too much more to say, other than Happy 60th Birthday! Having you as a brother has made me better.

Coming from a big family like ours, who are all so close, is a real advantage for all of us. Matthew is a key to this family.

Nobody needs you here more than me.

And here’s to many, many more.

Love,

d