Matthew's On His Field Of Dreams

It was a tearful day when his family buried 12-year-old Matthew Marsolais. But they buried him in style, the way he would have wanted to go - ready for the first pitch.

In the words of his mother, Terri Marsolais, "Matthew liked baseball. And he loved the Seattle Mariners."

Matthew lived with his parents, Terri and Darrell Marsolais, and his brother Kevin in SeaTac. One heartbreak was that he had cerebral palsy and played baseball only in his dreams.

On St. Patrick's Day, Matthew's short life came to an end. His death was completely unexpected.

At the time, the family was away in Arizona, watching the Mariners' spring-training games. Matthew's grandfather, Dan Toner, managed to communicate the family's loss to the Mariners and the team responded with compassion.

In time for the funeral service March 21, team members autographed a baseball for Matthew. There were so many signatures that some were difficult to decipher. But one that stood out from the rest was a message from the Mariners' manager: "To Matthew. God bless you, Lou Piniella."

Terri Marsolais described the service, saying, "Matthew was buried in a full Mariners' outfit, along with that special baseball."

His parents added a second baseball, one without any signatures. That, says his mom, is "so Matthew will have a ball he can actually play with in heaven."

Reunion: King County Superior Court Judge Michael Fox will perform a marriage ceremony next Sunday for a man he met under different circumstances.

In 1971, Fox was a young defense attorney, concerned with the plight of migrant workers. He traveled to Yakima to speak to workers housed in a labor camp, one that had been posted with "No Trespassing" signs.

The temper of the times was highly confrontational.

Not only was Fox arrested for criminal trespass, but he was convicted in a Yakima court. The case eventually went to the state Supreme Court where the conviction was reversed.

Skip to 25 years later: Fox, now a respected Superior Court judge, receives a call. It's from Scotty Ray, the deputy who was assigned to arrest Fox, but who later became his friend.

Ray wanted a judge to marry him and he thought of Fox. Judge Fox, of course, said, "Yes."

Permanent buzz: The Easter Grinch hit Fremont last weekend. At C B M Creative Chocolates, a light-fingered customer managed to walk away with the "buzz bean machine." (The device, which dispenses chocolate-covered espresso beans, resembles a bubblegum machine.)

Owner Kathy Moeller says the Easter Grinch apparently slipped out with the machine, quarters and all, hidden under his coat. Moeller laments, "It's like stealing eggs out of the Easter Bunny's basket."

On the other hand, it should be easy to spot the culprit: He'll be awake until next Christmas.

Miles apart: Motorists who take the First Avenue South bridge could become confused. A billboard looming there reads: "Burien - 6 miles; SeaTac - 15 miles; London - TWA."

The mileage, alas, isn't accurate. The distance to Burien is about three miles; to the airport, about five miles. Said one commuter, "Let's hope TWA calculates landings better than that."

Jean Godden's column appears Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the Local News section of The Times. Her phone is 464-8300.