Matt Greenwood Obituary

Matthew Vernon Greenwood, 62, of Grant, passed away on October 5, 2024, at the Perkins County Hospital.

Matt was born on March 17, 1962, in Florence, Oregon, to La Verne Otis Greenwood and Betty Carolyn Rayl. He was raised on the West Coast, where he attended Reedsport Union High School, and later moved to Billings, Montana, where he attended West Billings High School.

Matt pursued various educational paths and careers throughout his life. He earned his GED and an Associate's degree from Mid-Plains Community College in North Platte, where he studied Building Construction Technology, garnering a 4.0 GPA. He was proud to have Phi Theta Kappa honors and to have competed in Skills USA, once as a team in building completion, and then as an individual in plumbing and received the 2011 Skills USA Nebraska Collegiate Plumber Gold Medal, placing fourth in the nation.

In his professional life, Matthew ventured into the trucking industry, working for Northdale Oil, Inc., in North Dakota as a truck driver, hauling petroleum products and navigating complex cross-border logistics. He held a Class A CDL with tank and doubles/triples endorsement. He owned and operated a towing service out of Montana. He later worked for Scott and Linda Payne in Nebraska on the harvest crew, where he met Kurt Payne, a man he referred to as his second father, who ironically passed away the morning of the same day Matthew did.

Matt worked in the railroad industry in multiple roles, including as an Assistant Superintendent for Railroad Repair & Maintenance in Fort Worth, TX, and as a Section Foreman and Extra Board Engineer/Conductor for the Great Western Railway in Colorado, and as a Trainmaster, Roadmaster, and Engineer for Illinois RailNet in Ottawa, IL. His expertise was highly valued, and his work ranged from maintaining the right-of-way and infrastructure to overseeing budgets, crew staffing, and machinery maintenance for various railroads across the Plains and Southern United States. He was also a BNSF-qualified track inspector and locomotive engineer.

In 2004, Matt moved to Grant. Following the disbanding of Railroad Repair & Maintenance, he worked as an assistant manager at Kwik Stop. After earning his degree, he worked for Adams Lumber in Grant running the concrete plant. Despite his many career achievements and a term on the City Council, Matt faced personal challenges later in life, among which was a stent insertion, later followed in 2016 by a stroke, which left him partially paralyzed and significantly altered his life.

Matt loved spending time on his model train collection, which he took great pride in, and in promoting the rail modeling hobby. He was a former volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, where he assisted in building several homes, putting his carpentry background to good use.

Matt is survived by his fiancée, Carol Jacobs of Grant, his father, La Verne "Vern" Greenwood, of Grand Forks, ND, his sister, Colleen (Dave) Hainline of Brownsville, TX, her children Nicholas, Josie, and Daniel, his half-brother, Caleb Greenwood of Toledo, OR, Caleb's son Kyuss; and Matt's uncle, Ronald Greenwood of Reedsport, OR; Matt's cousin, Becky (Bryan) Mathany of Carson, WA and, her children Elena and Jack.

Graveside services will be held on Friday, July 25, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. at the Grant Fairview Cemetery with Father Thomas Bush officiating.

"We have loved them during life; let us not abandon them in death, until we have conducted them by our prayers into the house of the Lord." -St. Ambrose

Condolences may be shared at bullocklongfuneralhome.com.

Bullock-Long Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.