Family recalls truck driver in Incline crash The 41-year-old truck driver killed when his flatbed smashed into an Incline Village home and exploded Friday, was described by family members Tuesday as a caring, big-hearted individual of deep faith. They want an investigation into why Frederick Douglas Matthews' truck, which apparently lost its brakes on Mount Rose Highway, failed to stop on a runaway truck ramp and was launched into the house, which was destroyed by fire.
Rescuers were unable to reach Matthews in the flames.

But for now, the family's priority is get his body home to San Diego for a funeral before his kid brother, an Army soldier, is deployed to Afghanistan.

"I'm just hoping we can get everything done before then," said his mother, Elizabeth Namowicz.

She said she last talked to her son, who lived with a cousin in Anderson, Calif., two days before the accident.

She recently learned he wanted to become a minister.

"He was very giving, very loving, very spiritual," Namowicz said. "I know in my heart and soul that Jesus grabbed his spirit from his body before he died. As horrific as it was, I believe that."

Matthews, a former Marine, was "very close" to his two sons, Tremayne Matthews Garcia, 18, of Tuscon, Ariz., and Khyree Ruiz, 20, of Fort Carson, Colo., his mother said.

Twenty-year-old Caleb Namowicz, Matthews' younger brother, was with his Army unit preparing for deployment to Afghanistan when he learned of his brother's death. He was granted emergency leave to come home but is concerned that if services cannot be held by July, he will be shipped overseas and miss them.

The Washoe County medical examiner still had Matthews' body on Tuesday. Officials would not officially confirm Matthews is the dead truck driver.

"It's just shocking that he's gone," Caleb Namowicz said. "He was a big inspiration to me. He just had such a big impact on my life."
Matthew's other brother, 24-year-old Peter Namowicz, is having a particularly hard time in dealing with the death of the brother he was very close to as a child, his mother said.

Matthews' sister, 29-year-old Gabriella Abbott of Escondido, Calif., said she collapsed upon hearing of her brother's death.

"I just really didn't believe it at all," Abbott said.

Her older brother helped raise her as a child, Abbott said. He helped do her hair and was always there for her.

"He had an amazing heart for people and joy for life," she said, her voice breaking. "He would just have a lot of wisdom for me."

Abbott and her mother said they take comfort from accounts that Matthews swerved to miss at least four other vehicles while careening down the mountain highway before the crash.

"It's so hard that my brother died, but I'm just so proud of him, that he was thinking about other people," Abbott said.

They also are thankful no one else was killed, including 19-year-old Gwendolynn Ewasko, who was in her Incline Village living room when the truck crashed through her wall and exploded.

"It's a miracle that no one else died, just a miracle," Abbott said.

Matthews was one of Harriet Jackson's nine grandchildren and stood out in many ways.

"He was always so respectful of me, so considerate and thoughtful," said Jackson, 83. "He was a big teddy bear."

Her grandson always called her on her birthday, during Christmas and other holidays.
He last did so on Mother's Day, leaving a message on her answering machine because she wasn't home.

"Of course, he was telling me he loved me," Jackson said.