Helpful shoveler remembered fondly

Saukville residents were stunned to learn last week that a man who became famous for helping village residents shovel out from snowstorms, including clearing out fire hydrants for firefighters, died unexpectedly last week.

Helping people was a trademark of Matt Peters, his friend Sara Delleree said.

“Matt would be there if you needed anything. He would drop everything to help you out,” said Delleree, who had been a friend of Peters’ since the two were in sixth grade at Ozaukee Middle School in Fredonia. 

“No matter what, he was there for you regardless.”

Peters, who lived in Saukville, died unexpectedly Wednesday, March 4. A memorial service will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, March 13, at Eernisse Funeral Home in Port Washington. A visitation will be at the funeral home from 4 p.m. until the service.

Peters, 30, made headlines a year ago when he helped dig out his apartment complex on North Dries Street from a blizzard that dumped a foot of snow on Saukville.

But when he was done with that, he just kept digging.

“I was off work, so I shoveled my apartment’s walkway and sidewalk and saw the fire hydrant nearby and decided to shovel it out too,” Peters told an Ozaukee Press reporter in January 2019. 

“And then I saw the next one. I thought I would do a couple more near where I lived, and I ended up doing the whole neighborhood.”

Peters didn’t stop until he had cleared nearly every fire hydrant in the village so firefighters would have access to them.

At one point, Peters told a reporter he estimated he had dug out more than 40 hydrants.

And then he dug out some more, clearing hydrants near Saukville Elementary School and Grady Park, then along Dekora Avenue from Railroad Street east to the Milwaukee River bridge and to the Saukville public works building on South Main Street.

Peters became a social media sensation and Milwaukee TV stations noticed and flocked to the village to get video of him, shovel in hand.

One TV station named him their “Person of the Week,” and the Saukville Fire Department gave him a digital pat on the back on Facebook.

He also offered to help elderly people shovel their sidewalks and driveways.

Peters’ efforts paid off when a small fire broke out in the basement of a building near where he lived and the fire department was called. No one had to shovel out the hydrant.

Peters was a Fredonia native, the son of Eric and Ann Lueck Peters, and  made Saukville his home in recent years. 

He was kitchen manager at Between the Greens restaurant and bar in the Town of Saukville but was a “jack of all trades” to his friends, according to his obituary.

“He was always the life of the party,” Delleree said. “He always knew how to make somebody laugh.”

Peters is survived by his three children, father and three siblings. He was preceded in death by his mother and grandfather, Floyd Peters Jr. 

Delleree started a GoFundMe page to help raise money for funeral expenses and created a fund for his children. As of Tuesday, the page had raised $2,265 of its goal of $7,000.

To make a donation, go to www.gofundme.com/f/funeral-funds-for-matthew.

A complete obituary appears on Page 10B.