Matthew Loyola Voge

VOGE,Matthew Matthew Loyola Voge, 48, died comfortably at home on December 31, 2010 after surviving for a year and a half with brain cancer. Matt was born in Orange, CA to Dr. Lyle and Mrs. Margaret Voge, and was one of nine siblings. He graduated from Orange High School and received higher education degrees from the University of California at Santa Barbara and California State University at Long Beach. In 1991 he married Terese Sandberg, and they had two sons, Nathaniel and Stefan, both raised in Santa Rosa. As a physical therapist, Matt worked for Kaiser Permanente for more than 17 years. He gained extensive training through Kaiser's Clinical Residency program, and took on the role of Clinical Specialist for Kaiser, Santa Rosa. In addition to serving his patients, Matt enjoyed training and mentoring interns. Matt was adventurous, traveling widely, including extensively in Europe, and he lived in Sydney, Australia for some months. He loved hiking, fishing and backpacking with friends, and shared his love of the outdoors with his sons. He was a beer brewing and cider making enthusiast, sharing this passion with his good buddies John and Roger. He was industrious and took pride in his house, taking on many home-improvement projects indoors and landscaping the yard. Matt coached his sons in several sports and served on Santa Rosa American Little League Baseball's Board of Directors for a number of years During his illness Matt continued to work while receiving cancer treatment and helped with Santa Rosa High School's basketball teams by offering his expertise as a conditioning coach. Through it all Matt lived with strength and determination as well as stoic perseverance. Matt was a committed husband and father and a skilled and caring therapist. He was a loving son and brother who shared a strong, unconditional and often unspoken bond of love and respect with his family. Matt will be remembered by friends and loved ones for his sense of humor, his gentle kindness and ability to put everyone at ease. Emblematic of Matt's grace, near the end of his life, he expressed the love and appreciation he felt for the outpouring of support he received by saying "The best is having the collective you." Matt's memory will live forever in the hearts of his family and many friends including, his wife of 19 years, Terese; their two sons, Nathaniel (17) and Stefan (16); his mother-in-law, Sheryl Hopkins; his mother, Margaret; his eight siblings (Mark, Amy, Chris, Lisa, Toby, Marta, Nic, and Camille) as well as their spouses; and his 17 nieces and nephews. Matt was preceded in death by his father, Lyle C. Voge. To send personal condolences please visit Matt's CaringBridge webpage at www.caringbridge.org/visit/matthewvoge/journal. For those who wish to make a donation in honor of Matt, there is also information on the website. Memorial services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 15, 2011 at St. Eugene's Cathedral in Santa Rosa, and there will be a gathering immediately following in St. Eugene's Parish Life Center.