Matthew Benjamin George

Matthew Benjamin George, 61, of Grafton, NH entered eternal life on April 27, 2024 having lived a truly unique life journey. Matthew was born on November 28, 1962 in Hartford, CT to Helen and Daniel George and grew up in West Hartford, CT. He graduated in 1981 from Conard H.S. where he sang the lead in the musical Oklahoma. Matthew attended Trinity College (Hartford) as a Capital Area Scholar and received a degree in Religion (1985). He began work at his father’s painting & decorating company specializing in the restoration of churches. He learned the trade of gold leafing and stenciling and was a true artisan in his own right. After several years he set out to Vermont and New Hampshire. He acquired 67 acres of land and a cabin in New Hampshire and began a career as a corrections officer for the State of Vermont. This allowed him the opportunity to pursue his love of the outdoors, writing and music. Matthew was a Hatha Yoga instructor who completed extensive training under the guidance of Yogi Krishan in Ontario, Canada. He applied his training to teaching Yoga to residents at Correctional Institutions in Vermont and for peaceful reflections through the challenges of ALS. He was also an Eagle Scout and was a skilled college soccer player. He loved golfing, hiking, biking, surfing and camping in New Hampshire and Cape Cod. Matthew was also a singer/songwriter/guitar/harmonica player, outdoorsman. He penned numerous ingenious short stories, a novel, and wrote original music for guitar, harmonica and voice. This music is contained on 3 CDs that were professionally mastered. You can hear some of them at www.youtube.com/@unclemathias3590 . He was a regular “busker” in Provincetown, MA in front of the town hall and Burlington, VT singing his music for only the love and joy of it. “As many a-soul a-have left free, spinning through the varied millennium, their bloomin’ is painted wonder, as springtime’ll, o’bring on the trillium”. From Bring on the Trillium– Songs from the Doll House (Matthew George - 2000). He lived for some 30 years, through all seasons, surrounded by nature, the monarchs and the roaring brook, in a rustic one room cabin, at the foot of Mount Cardigan, as Henry David Thoreau might have done. This was his paradise. He was a true off-grid, live-free-or-die New Hampshire resident. Thanks to all the friends that stood by Matthew thought the years and until the last, and to all the providers at River Ridge (Avon, CT) for their compassion and kindness. Matthew is survived by his mother Helen, sister Claudia, brothers Daniel (Christine) and Justin (Alison). He found great joy in his nieces and nephews: Larissa, Stephen (Joanna), Elizabeth, Thomas (Noella), Danielle (Thomas), Rebecca, Eve, Michelle, Sarah (Mark) and Jason (Kathryn). He was pre-deceased by his father Daniel. A memorial service will be held at a later date in the grandeur of nature as he would have wished. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Appalachian Mountain Club at www.outdoors.org/donate/tribute-gifts . To extend condolences, please visit MolloyFuneralHome.com.