Donald C Matteson, 1961–2025
Donald C Matteson, our beloved little brother and longtime resident of Boulder Creek, CA, passed away March 5, 2025. Known to his friends as “Don” and to his family as “D.C,” he was proud that his middle name was the letter “C.” Our parents named him after our mother’s father, whose middle name was Clifton, but wanted to break with tradition and simply used the letter “C” as his middle name. Since it wasn’t an abbreviation, there was no period after the C and D.C would delight in pointing that out to anyone who got it wrong. Having a letter for a middle name should have been a harbinger that Don was going to be his own self.
Don was born on October 18, 1961 to John and Marilyn Matteson in Redwood City, CA. He is survived by his three older brothers: Mark (Barb), David (Beth) and Tom Matteson. He is also survived by multiple nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews.
As a boy, Don had a natural talent for understanding how devices worked. He constructed his own bicycle out of discarded parts in the trash at the local bicycle shop. He bought a used police car and “souped” it up so he could race it at the drag strip. His knack for understanding the way things worked was apparent early on.
Don graduated from Sequoia High School in Redwood City and then UC Santa Barbara with a degree in engineering. He became fascinated with computers. Being in Silicon Valley, he was in the right place to follow his passion. He received a Master’s degree in Computer Science from UC Santa Cruz. After cutting his teeth at dozens of smaller companies, Don ended up at Apple in Cupertino. He loved working at Apple, seeing Steve Jobs walk across the campus and work on iconic Apple projects. For many years, his function was to program the workarounds to fix the glitches in Apple’s new products, which earned him the moniker, “The Bugmeister.” He had a long and fulfilling career at Apple from which he retired in 2021.
Don loved living in Boulder Creek and spending time with his friends, many of whom he met at Joe’s. In fact, if you wanted to run into him, Joe’s was your best bet.
All of us who knew Don (or “D.C”) were drawn to his energy, intelligence, kindness and independence. We miss him greatly and wish him peace and serenity. We often exchanged puns and his favorite was “No left turn unstoned.”
We are celebrating Don’s life with a reception at Scopazzi’s in Boulder Creek on Saturday, August 23, 2025 at 4p.m. The price of admission is your favorite story about Don.
Contributed by David Matteson
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