Hometownstations.com-WLIO- Lima, OH News Weather SportsFriends Remember Matthew Yohe

Friends Remember Matthew Yohe

    The recent suicide of an Ottawa teenager is bringing the community closer together.
Eighteen year old Matthew Yohe checked out of this world on February 9th. He did it on his own terms and by his own hands, hanging himself in his parent's garage.
    The 2011 graduate of Ottawa Glandorf high school didn't seem to have a care in the world... at least that's what his father, Patrick Yohe thought.
    Matthew's friends and former classmates held a vigil at the high school Sunday night to remember him and what he meant to them.
    Many wonder what went wrong with Matthew's life that he made the choice he made. Patrick believes it was because of the influence of a girl he was trying to help.
   Outside the school, Matthew's friends and family gathered around the car he used to drive and listened to songs he used to play and remember how things used to be. They took turns signing a poster board, expressing their thoughts to him...and releasing balloons in hopes their message reaches him somehow.
   Patrick's advise to parents, look for the signs they didn't see, like changes in the friends they hang out with and changes in behavior.
   As a way to help Matthew's friends, the Yohe's are keeping his cell phone active, to use as a hotline in the hopes of talking others out of ending it all and getting the help and support they need.