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WVFC Loses VP & Founding Member |
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It is with great sadness that we must announce the unexpected passing, on November 8, 2020, of West Virginia Falconry Club Vice President Matthew Frey.
Matt was a member of the Potomac Falconer's Association and a founding member of the West Virginia Falconry Club. Matt served as treasurer of the PFA in the late 1990s and as vice president of the PFA in the early 2000s. He served as vice president of the West Virginia Falconry Club from it's inception until the time of his death.
A falconer since 1997, Matt started with red-tails, but his forte and passion was flying Harris's hawks on rabbits. His best bird was a Harris's hawk named Sonora, who he flew for 17 seasons before retiring her to a breeding program.
Though he would humbly try to deny such credit, Matt was the driving force in shaping the West Virginia Falconry Regulations into what they are today. Most would have walked away from the daunting task, but Matt boldly took it on and worked together with the WVDNR to make falconry possible in the state.
Matt was an accomplished artist and illustrator, doing work for magazines such as Kids Discover, the Nature Conservancy Magazine and the National Geographic Society. His illustrations have also appeared in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and the Field Museum, and in 2013, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp with two of Matt's illustrations of barn swallows.
In addition to his wife, Melissa, Matt is survived by his four children, Katelynn R. Metz-Murphy, Owen L. Frey, Nathanael E. Frey, and Oliver M. Frey, all at home in Charles Town; his mother, Diana Zilahy, of Glastonbury, CT; his father, Peter, of Martinsburg, WV; a sister, Lauren Daisley, of Cold Spring, NY; a step-sister, Nancy Carter, of South Windsor, CT; and a step- brother, Michael Zilahy, of Glastonbury, CT. He was preceded in death by his step-father Walter Zilahy.
Matt is terribly missed among the falconry community, but his legacy as a falconer of integrity and defender of falconry in the state of West Virginia will live on through his work with the West Virginia Falconry Club and the state's regulations. We are all incredibly fortunate to have had Matt in our lives. |
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