Matthew 'Matt' Brent Romo, 51

Matthew “Matt” Brent Romo passed away at home surrounded by his loving family and friends on April 3, 2021, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He was born March 19, 1970, in Pomona, Calif., to Sandra Diane Romo (Stiles) and Salvador Romo, Jr.

Early childhood days were spent in Coeur d’Alene. After his parents divorced and moved back to California he grew up in Ventura County. In October 1988, during his senior year of high school, he began working part time for the Ventura Police Department in records, as a clerk.

After graduation in June 1989, he was hired full time and was with Ventura Police for 17 years as an office records specialist II. Matt worked for Pride Industries from August 2008 to June 2016 at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Port Hueneme, Calif.

Matt, with his longtime girlfriend, Christy, returned to Coeur d’Alene in June 2016 to be closer to family. He worked for Esterline/AIS as a manufacturing associate until September 2017. In 2017 he began working for Millard Mall Services, Inc. at the Silver Lake Mall. If you were a mall walker, sales person, shop owner or just visiting the mall, you probably saw and met Matt. He was friendly, would smile and greet those he met at the mall. Matt has always been a hard worker.

In his spare time he loved working, rebuilding, repairing and improving his computers. Matt also had a great fondness for snakes, cats (especially the cat, Zoey), fish and aquariums, and all kinds of animals. Matt was severely hearing impaired and was an excellent lip reader and was fluent in American Sign Language (ASL). He was an advocate for the deaf.

He is survived by his mother, Sandra Stiles; father, Salvador Romo; brother, Mark Romo his wife, Lucille; nephews, Christopher and Jacob Romo of Idaho; step-brother, Anthony Kulzer and his wife, Dessy, of New York; step-sister, Teresa Tauriello (Kulzer) and her husband, Anthony, of Georgia; uncles and aunts, Dennis and Suzanne Stiles of Arizona, Gary and Carole Stiles, Hector and Rose Romo, Samuel and Aurora Romo, Diana and Augustin Aguayo and David and Bernice Romo, all of California; many cousins; his girlfriend, Christina Rahn; and her parents, Cat and Mike Pagel of Idaho.

Matt did not want a service. Friends may share condolences and memorable stories with the family at www.yatesfuneralhomes.com. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org) or the Kootenai Health Foundation, Inc. (www.kootenaihealthfoundation.org) with a designation to ‘Cancer Services.’

Yates Funeral Home is entrusted with final arrangements.