Woman hit by garbage truck, killed while taking dog to St. Paul park

David Joles, Star Tribune

A red rose was placed on a traffic light post near Sibley and 5th streets, where Jean Matzke, 70, a Lowertown resident, was killed Friday morning. The St. Paul woman was remembered for her wit and her laugh.

Jean Matzke, 70, was killed in an accident on Friday morning, during a routine walk. "I already miss her," a neighbor said.

By ANTHONY LONETREE, Star Tribune

Last update: June 26, 2009 - 11:51 PM

Among St. Paul's downtown dog owners, the joke goes that people will remember a dog's name -- not the owner's.

But Jean Matzke, an embroidery artist, and her rescue dog, Miya, both were well known to Chris Beckstrom, a pug owner who also tends gardens at Mears Park in Lowertown. And he says the female boxer couldn't have had a better owner.

Matzke made certain to introduce Miya to other dogs and people, helping Miya, unaccustomed to socializing, build relationships. "She did a great service to her dog," Beckstrom said.

On Friday, Matzke and Miya were on a morning walk, one that often took them as far as the state Capitol. It was about 5:50 a.m. when Matzke, 70, was struck and killed by a garbage truck while crossing 5th and Sibley streets at Mears Park. Miya was uninjured.

Hours later, at Lowertown Lofts Cooperative where Matzke lived, neighbors struggled with the loss of a friend who had a sharp wit and great laugh. She was an artist capable of taking the potentially somber subject of memory loss and turning it into vibrant art.

On a wall inside the building is a framed piece of embroidery, "Thief of Memory," within which Matzke stitched outlines of bugs in a brain. A friend and fellow artist, Judith Morem, knowing of her neighbor's increasing forgetfulness, recalled seeing the piece and thinking, "Oh, she's working it out."

Jim Thielen, a building site manager, said: "I already miss her."

Miya was initially taken to St. Paul Animal Control, and later was turned over to Matzke's family, authorities say. She had lived with Matzke for less than a year.

According to police spokesman Sgt. Paul Schnell, Matzke and Miya were crossing Sibley Street on 5th Street when the eastbound truck, driven by Douglas M. Platt, 49, of Lakeville, turned left onto northbound Sibley and struck her.

Schnell said it did not appear initially that Platt was impaired in any way. The driver, he said, was "obviously emotional" over Matzke's death.

St. Paul police will investigate the crash, a process that Schnell said could take four to six weeks. The State Patrol also will inspect the truck, which is standard for crashes that involve commercial vehicles.

By Beckstrom's estimate, "easily 100 dogs" stop by daily at Mears Park, where a grassy area at the eastern edge is designated for their use.

Thielen said that he and the building's co-manager were alerted to the accident about 6:15 a.m. by a woman who buzzed the entrance. She didn't know Matzke's name, Thielen recalled, but she did know Miya's.

Thielen arrived to a difficult scene -- dog owners "breaking down right on the spot."

And there, tethered to a bench, was Miya.

So many times before, Thielen recalled, he had been on an elevator with Matzke and Miya, and he would hear Matzke say, "Isn't this a great dog? I just love this dog."

Now, he knew he had to pet her.

"Officers seemed grateful that there was a friendly hand there," Thielen said.

Matzke had made sure there would be.

Staff writer Paul Walsh contributed to this report. Anthony Lonetree • 612-673-4109

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