Obituary of Matt Wickoren

Matt Wickoren, born April 1, 1958, died January 10, 2025. With deep sorrow, we share the news that Matt, our beloved brother, son, uncle, friend, and resident wise-ass and trickster, has passed away and is now with our Lord, reunited with the many family and friends who went before him and are there to greet him with open arms. He passed away on January 10th from Influenza A complicated by his COP and asthma. We hope you are breathing easy now our dear Matt. Matt was always ready to lend a hand, whether it was driving friends and family to appointments, picking up groceries, ushering at church, or heading to the casino. However, heaven help you if you called him during a football game (Go Vikings!) or while he was watching Little House on the Prairie! Matt will be greatly missed by his sister, Sherry, his stepmother, Louise, his many nieces and nephews, cousins, and a wide circle of friends. His jokes, quick wit, generosity, and kindness will be missed by all. Matt was born in St. Paul, MN on April 1, 1958 on April Fool’s Day which was very fitting for his trickster personality . He was the son of Betty Ziemann and Donald Wickoren and step son to Louise Wickoren. He was the baby brother to his sisters Sherry Batterman and Geraldine Herrero, and his brother Dean Hauge. He called his oldest sister, Sherry, “mom”, since she helped raise him and his other two siblings when times got a bit rough. He had severe, lifelong asthma, but that didn’t stop him from smoking cigarettes at the young age of 12 (smirk). He went to Harding High School and graduated in 1976, where he made many lifelong friends and learned to play the trumpet. Shortly after graduating, joined the Navy for a short time and was given an honorable discharge for medical reasons. He lost touch will his St. Paul family for a while when he went traveling to his family in North Dakota and lived with his father’s sisters, working at sunflower plant driving a forklift and making bird seed bells. Then he moved to Texas to work on an oil rig. After that he moved to Pennsylvania with his brother Dean, sister-in-law, Rose, and their family for a short time, but missed his old stomping grounds and friends in St. Paul. He moved back to St. Paul, where his favorite jobs were landscaping for Highland Nursery and delivering auto parts throughout the city, which he enjoyed because of his love of driving as well as knowing the cities like the back of his hand. He recently lived in Central Towers where he had many friendships. He was a faithful member of Cross Lutheran Church. Please note, this is only part of his story as his friends in St. Paul and family in North Dakota have their own stories as well. He loved driving around the Twin Cities with anyone who needed a ride, being a car guy, listening to blues and jazz music, fishing, watching football, playing pinochle, playing Monopoly (and somehow always winning), spending time with friends and family (but only for a certain amount of time ), and eating frozen cheese cake and Larry’s chocolate chip cookies. The visitation starts at 10am with funeral at 11am, and lunch to follow on January 24th, at Cross Lutheran Church, 1945 Prosperity Rd, Maplewood, MN 55109. The funeral service will be live streamed on Cross Lutheran Church’s YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV1P3gjc2PIzHNt7wfuhjqw). In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests donations to the YMCA’s Kids to Camp Fund (https://www.ymcanorth.org/give/k2c), Big Brothers Big Sisters (https://www.bigstwincities.org/#donate), Cross Lutheran Church’s Community Market (https://crosslutheranchurch.org/ Attn: Community Market), or ask that you take a friend out fishing, give them a ride to an appointment, or consider becoming a Big Brother or Big Sister in Matt's honor. Matt will be cremated and his ashes will be scattered in the summer of 2026 when additional family members will be able to travel to Minnesota. They will be scattered at Sawbill Lake Campground, a favorite family hang out, where many laughs, jokes, and memories were had at the end of the Sawbill Trail, in Tofte, MN.