Obituary
Matthew John Kraker was born January 31, 1986 in DeLand, Florida. He lived in New Smyrna Beach until moving to Truckee, California in the Lake Tahoe area in early 1990 where he lived until 1996. He was always the best athlete in his class. As a youngster, he excelled in soccer, basketball, baseball and carved a lot of snow on skis and snowboarding in the Sierras north of Lake Tahoe. After moving back to New Smyrna Beach in 1996, Matt continued playing sports. He excelled in club soccer and became as avid surfer. He was all conference in high school all four years. After high school, he spent a semester at Ithaca College in NY State, then returned to Florida to continue college at Santa FE Community College in Gainesville. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Flagler College in St Augustine, majoring in business with a minor in Spanish. Matt spent many memorable summer days with his cousins on Sylvia Lake in northern NY where his dad, Larry grew up. After college, he spent much of his time in Mizata, El Salvador on family property he hoped would one day be a Surfer’s B&B that he would manage and act as surf guide. Matt was fluent in Spanish. His love for the El Salvadorian people, especially the children, was demonstrated with several surfer mission trips in Mizata. Matt spent most of his later years working in St Augustine when not in El Salvador. Tragically, he passed away in Salt Lake City, Utah on September 1. 2021.
Life Celebration will be 4:00 PM September 11, 2021 at Edgewater Landing Clubhouse.
In lieu of other remembrances donations are requested to Samaritanspurserelief.org
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