Matthew
William Carrington's family found his
New Year's resolutions on his desk.
He wanted
to earn a 3.5 GPA, find fun activities
that don't involve alcohol and get back
in shape.
Carrington, a 21-year-old Chico State
junior, didn't get a chance to fulfill
his resolutions.
He died
Feb. 2 during initiation week while
pledging Chi Tau. He transferred in
August to Chico State from Diablo Valley
College.
But
during his short time at Chico State,
Carrington always looked out for his
friends.
He took
car keys from friends who were drinking
alcohol and made sure they got home
safely. When he played Xbox with his
friends at his home in Pleasant Hill, he
was the first to give up a controller to
let someone else play.
Mike
Quintana said he and Carrington spent
every day together since they began
pledging Chi Tau in September.
"He did
so much for me and I was really
appreciative. I was always looking for
that chance to help him the way he
helped me," Quintana said. "I lost that
chance. I should have been there."
Quintana
and Carrington had been drinking from a
five-gallon jug of water and doing
calisthenics as part of an
initiation-week activity in the basement
of the Chi Tau house when Carrington had
a seizure and died.
"I just
watched him leave me," Quintana said.
"You just want to grab him and shake
him."
Quintana
said Carrington was the nicest, gentlest
guy he has met.
"He
should have never gotten taken away from
me or the world," Quintana said.
When
Carrington transferred to Chico State,
he joined the fraternity looking for
loyalty, friendship and brotherhood, Chi
Tau President Ken Dandy said.
"He was
the guy that was always there anytime
you needed anything," Dandy said while
wearing dark glasses and chain-smoking
cigarettes the day Carrington died.
His Chi
Tau big brother, Matt Price, said
Carrington was the best pledge the
fraternity ever had.
"He was
friends with everyone," Price said. "No
one treated him like a pledge."
Price
said Carrington would have been a role
model in the fraternity.
"School
came first and the fraternity came
second," Price said. "He knew why he was
here."
But Price
said Carrington was excited to wear the
XT letters, which big brothers give
their little brothers at initiation.
Price was
planning to buy Carrington's letters the
day he died.
Price did
buy them but gave them to Carrington's
mother instead.
Friday,
Carrington's mother, Debbie Smith, held
the navy T-shirt with blue and white XT
letters on it while she said Carrington
joined the fraternity to make new
friends.
"He
really sincerely liked those boys," she
said.
But she
said he wanted pledging to be over.
"He
should have just told those guys he
couldn't do it anymore," she said. "But
that wasn't the kind of person he was."
Smith
said she asked her son if he would treat
future pledges the way he was treated,
and he told her he wouldn't be as
extreme.
"He was
exhausted from it," she said. "It wasn't
fun anymore."
While
Carrington was pledging, he went to
Southern California and had to dress
like a prostitute on camera.
"I still
haven't seen the tape," she said.
He had to
switch shirts with a homeless man, who
had vomited on himself. When Carrington
returned the homeless man's shirt, Smith
said he didn't want his own shirt back.
"He goes,
'Just keep it,'" she said laughing.
She said
he often wore T-shirts with jokes on
them. She said Carrington's younger
brother, Travis Smith, loved the
T-shirts, but Smith didn't know where to
buy them. So Carrington gave him funny
shirts for gifts.
"They
were always funny sayings," she said.
Carrington came to Chico to get an
education, so he left his Xbox and
television at home with his brother.
When
Carrington put a comedy routine on his
cell phone voice mail, Travis did the
same.
"Matt was
Travis' idol," Smith said. "He already
said he's not joining a fraternity."
The last
contact Smith had with Carrington was an
e-mail.
"We told
him how proud we were and how much we
loved him," she said. "And thank God we
did."
His
brother, Travis, said Carrington always
looked out for his friends.
"If
something was going to happen, he would
stop it."
Lifetime
friend Joey Hackett, 21, said Carrington
was up for anything.
Hackett,
along with about seven other
neighborhood friends, came to Chico
Friday night for a candlelight vigil at
the Chi Tau house.
"We loved
him like a brother," Hackett said.
Aaron
Martinsen, 20, said Carrington took
every dare they gave him.
Hackett
said once they were riding bikes to
school and they dared him to down a
quart of creamer at 7-Eleven.
"He drank
the whole thing," he said laughing.
All of
them remembered playing sports with
Carrington.
Martinsen
said he was the neighborhood MVP at
everything.
"He was
magic at basketball," Martinsen said.
Carrington left an impression on his
friends by wearing inappropriate
T-shirts and telling inappropriate
jokes.
"He was
the first kid to swear," Martinsen said,
"in second grade."
At
Friday's candlelight vigil nearly 200
family, friends and acquaintances came
to remember Carrington.
With
votive candles lining the railing at the
Chi Tau house and candles lighting the
faces of the silent audience, Debbie
Smith said "Everybody loved Matt."
She said
she hopes people learn from her son's
death.
"We're
going to work hard to ensure that
nothing like this ever happens again."
After the
speeches, Carrington's stepfather, Greg
Smith, said Carrington was a great
person.
"We knew
alcohol and drugs wouldn't be an issue
because he's so smart," Smith said. "But
this water thing we never knew."
He said
he felt waves of hatred since Carrington
died, but meeting the fraternity
brothers helped.
"This is
the first time my cheeks have been dry
for two days," Smith said.
He said
the fraternity brothers loved
Carrington.
"Once you
met Matt, you absolutely wanted to love
him," Smith said.
Brea
Jones can be reached at
bjones@orion-online.net
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Slideshow from
Matthew Carrington's
vigil
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