Mathew "Matt" Woida

Mathew E. “Matt” Woida, age 97 of Sauk Centre, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family on Sunday, July 13, 2025 at the Cura Care Centre in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, July 21 at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Sauk Centre with Rev. Kevin Soenneker officiating. Interment will be in the parish cemetery.

Visitation will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Patton-Schad Funeral Home in Sauk Centre and from 10 to 10:45 a.m. Monday at the church. Parish prayers will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon at the funeral home.

Mathew (Matt) Eugene Woida was born in Effington Township on a farm near Millerville, MN on February 2nd, 1928 to John and Martha (Dorn) Woida. He was the youngest of 4 children. The family farmed near Millerville, then moved to the Sauk Centre area when Matt was about 7 years old. They moved to several different area farms before ending up on the farm 5 miles west of town that Matt lived on for the next 80 years.

Matt started farming with horses and told stories of plowing with a 3-horse team when he was young to when they got their first tractor and he started helping neighboring farmers for extra income. Farming was his passion for many years and he grew a dairy herd that was one of the biggest producers in the area. After he was no longer milking the cows or farming the land, he started farming his yard which looked like the local golf course.

Past times included fishing both summer and winter, snowmobiling, playing cards, casino trips and elk hunting. Matt traveled to Montana for over 28 years to hunt elk and stay with his good friends Lowell and Joan Jacobson. Over those years, he became very familiar with the area and took many friends and family members along to help them enjoy the hunting experience in the mountains. He not only shot his own elk but helped fill tags for others and had many hunting stories to share. He especially enjoyed hunting and going on casino trips with his good friend, Bob Boyer. Matt also had a gift when it came to cards and there were many times you could find him at John’s Place where it seemed that he knew what each player had in their hands. Matt was active in the Powerline controversy in central Minnesota in the mid 1970’s. During that time, he made many lasting friendships with farmers and others who shared the same beliefs. Matt also enjoyed quite a few trips to Alaska to fish for Salmon and Halibut.

Matt looked forward to family holiday meals and really enjoyed his grandchildren and great grandchildren. They helped soften him up so that he grew to look for those special hugs from them. He was a good cook and enjoyed hosting his signature fish fries. Most of the time he could be found with his best buddy, Lucky. Whenever Matt was in the vehicle on any type of excursion, Lucky was in the passenger seat to keep him company.

Survivors include his children, Eugene (Amy) Woida, Gerald (Julie) Woida, Sharon (Les) Haakinson and Joe Woida (Diana Busch) all of Sauk Centre area, along with 9 grandchildren, 3 step grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren.

He is preceded in death by his parents; John and Martha, sister Gertrude Slavik Stanton and brothers Lawrence Woida and Urban Woida.