A man who drowned Friday while using a personal watercraft on an Arva pond got engaged two weeks ago and planned to get married at the Arva Flour Mill.

Steven Matthews, 43, of Middlesex Centre was a co-owner of the historic mill beside a pond that is part of Medway Creek.

“Everybody’s absolutely devastated,” a tearful Melissa Matthews, his sister-in-law, said Sunday at the mill.

On a GoFundMe page set up to raise funds for Matthews’ fiancee Carrie MacGregor, Matthews was described as a person who lived life to the fullest every day.

He was a man who “was as much heart as he was fire, had friends who were his family, and family who were his friends,” the citation said.

Matthews proposed to MacGregor April 23 after they had been together more than a decade.

“For just two short weeks Carrie and Steve were on the top of the world making arrangements for their upcoming wedding to take place in just a few months at the Arva Flour Mill. Both so excited to take this step, and start a family together, such a wonderful and happy life-event.”

The goal of the GoFundMe account is $10,000, which had been exceeded by Sunday evening.



Social media photo of Steve Matthews, with his fiance Carrie MacGregor.

The drowning — already the second water-related fatality in the London region this spring — happened at about 5:30 p.m. Friday when Matthews was found with no vital signs, Ontario Provincial Police said.

He was alone on the personal watercraft and his death isn’t considered suspicious.

At the time, in the midst of several straight days of heavy rain, police advised people to stay away from bodies of water, warning that “the waters are still very cold, random debris is more likely and water levels are at a high level.”

In the 48 hours that ended Saturday morning, the area received as much as 50 millimetres of rain, according to the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority. Water levels in upstream areas of the Thames River started slowly dropping Saturday, but officials warn the river in London will remain elevated.

Middlesex-London EMS paramedics and volunteer firefighters from Middlesex Centre were involved in attempts to revive Matthews. Victim Services of Middlesex-London was also called to the scene.

An autopsy was to be conducted this weekend, police said.



Arva Flour Mill (Free Press file photo)

Arva Flour Mill opened at its location on Medway Creek in 1819. It’s the oldest water-powered flour mill operating in Canada, and possibly in North America.

The Matthews siblings are the fourth generation of their family to operate the business that was bought by their family in 1919.

The personal watercraft drowning comes about one month after a 23-year-old Cambridge man died when his canoe capsized on the fast-flowing Nine Mile River, northeast of Goderich.

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