Heaven 'Has One More Beautiful Singing Angel'

Friends, family and the  community are mourning the loss of a 16-year-old student who died during the school's Thanksgiving break.

Matthew Cooper, a member of the school's chorus, died last Friday at a Fairfax Hospital.

A service will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Fairfax Unitarian Church, with a special performance by Madison's Madrigal Chorus.

The family is receiving guests 6:30 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week.

Described as "delightful, gregarious, and musically-gifted" by his family, Cooper attended Kilmer Middle School and Kent Gardens Elementary School before attending Madison.

By Friday morning, nearly 750 people had liked the page "RIP Matthew Cooper," created by friends in his honor.

"I just looked at a picture of a 2-year-old class in 1997 and Matthew had the biggest smile in the class," wrote one of those fans. "Everyone at HCEP is sending prayers. Matt you will be missed!"

On his Facebook page, Cooper listed basketball as his favorite sport, counting Kobe Bryant and the L.A. Lakers among his favorite athletes and teams. He said he was inspired by Eminem, Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas Edison, Bob Marley, Adam Sandler and Jack Johnson, among others.

But his real passion was music. He said on his page he played guitar and piano and also sang, inspired by musicians like Nate Tenhundfeld, Jack Johnson, Lil Wayne and Eminem.

He uploaded videos of himself performing covers of popular songs to the YouTube account "Schecta11," the most recent of which was "The Prayer" by Kid Cudi.

Amanda Bentley and Carina Tatleman, two of Matthew's friends and classmates, made a tribute video singing that same song. It was posted to Facebook earlier this week.

"We know you are singing and playing along wherever you are now," Bentley wrote on Facebook. "We can't put into words how much we miss you already, and how grateful we are to have known you as long as we did. You were a blessing to our community and even though you are gone your bright smile still lights up the sky every day. Heaven now has one more beautiful singing angel."

Matthew is survived by parents Don and Beth, a sister and brother, Amy and Andrew; grandparents, Robert and Cathy Thompson; uncle, Paul Cooper; aunt, Marta Rothwarf, and uncles, Bruce and Stephen Thompson.

The family asks contributions be made to the Depression Bipolar Support Alliance at www.dbsanova.org.