Matthew Lester Remembered For Love Of Community, Dedication To Environment

Matthew Lester of Springs, a member of East Hampton High School’s class of 2017, died of an apparent suicide on January 16. He was 17.

In 2009, when still a young boy, he had written to President Barack Obama as the Long Island Kid Ambassador of Earth Hour, which encourages energy conservation by asking people to turn off their lights for one hour. When the president wrote back, Matthew was motivated to write letters to the village and town of East Hampton to participate as well, and he continued to promote the effort through his relationships at the Springs School, the First Presbyterian Church of East Hampton, Boy Scout Troop 298, and his own family members.

“It was something that he was very excited about,” said Dana Lester, Matthew’s mother. “He got both the town and the village to turn off all non-essential lights for Earth Hour. He pushed and had a lot of energy talking to people about it. He was very concerned about the environment.”

According to Paul Casciotta, Scoutmaster of Troop 298, Matthew was an active and accomplished Scout who had earned a number of merit badges since joining in 2010. He was an avid camper, worked on nearly every public service project the troop had to offer, performed National Youth Leadership Training with the Boy Scouts at age 13, and was elected by his peers to be inducted into the Order of the Arrow, the National Honor Society of the Boy Scouts.

“He was friendly with other troops and friendly with every one of his peers,” Mr. Casciotta said. “He’s that kind of kid—he touched a lot of people’s lives. People really liked him and respected him.”

Matthew was on the verge of becoming an Eagle Scout, and all that remained was to complete his Eagle Scout Service Project. His project was to create a pollination garden at the East Hampton Historical Farm Museum on North Main Street. According to his mother, beekeeping became a family hobby after 12-year-old Matthew had a chance encounter.

“It all started with us going to a farmers market and him meeting a beekeeper there,” Ms. Lester said. “He started tasting all of her honeys, and she was talking to him about bees, and he started reading about bees. He was thirsty for knowledge, and the more thirsty he became about the knowledge of bees, and I started getting involved, we just decided that this would be a good hobby for us.”

Ms. Lester said that they received their first set of bees in 2014 and that Matthew was so enamored with his new hobby that he asked for a case of honey that year for Christmas. Two years later, on December 15, 2016, he presented his project plans in front of the East Hampton Town Board, whose members expressed their support for his project.

“I went up to him before he presented, shook his hand and expressed pride as supervisor for his community interest,” said Supervisor Larry Cantwell. “Everyone in the room was extremely proud of Matthew and his interest in community service.”

Prudence Carabine, one of the museum’s founders, said Matthew had planned to start construction of the garden in March—and now his Boy Scout troop will take over and finish the garden in his honor.

At East Hampton High School, Matthew performed in the last two annual musicals, “Grease” in 2015, and last year’s production of “Rent.” His mother said he loved performing on stage and enjoyed the group of people he worked with. He had also put in more than 200 hours of community service.

“He was such a kind human being and made students feel very comfortable,” East Hampton School Superintendent Richard Burns said. “If you think back to when you were a freshman in high school, there was a lot of anxiety attached to a new school. Matthew was always able to talk to a couple of those kids who had the initial apprehension to the new building and change, and I heard from a number of students that he was the one that actually reached out to them and made them feel comfortable in the high school. He just knew that people needed a little extra love and care, and it was just amazing how he had the ability to affect people in a positive way.”

“He was always willing to help anybody, and I think he gravitated toward people that didn’t necessarily fit in,” Ms. Lester said of her son. “A lot of kids got up at his funeral and spoke about how they weren’t necessarily fitting in, and he would always say ‘hi’ to them and stuff like that.”

The funeral was held on Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church of East Hampton. “I’ve never seen that many people in our church before—it really was overwhelming,” she said. “Sometimes my husband and I get frustrated with the way the town has become, compared to what the town was like when we were growing up. But seeing this outpouring, just in the way that the community was coming out in this tragedy, has reaffirmed our reason as to why we stay here.”

Matthew, who was born on June 8, 1999, is survived by his father, Jeffrey, mother, Dana, an older sister, Meredith, and an older half-sister, Michelle.