Stephen John Matula passed away on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, at St. David’s Medical Center in Austin.
He was born Aug. 11, 1968 to Annie (Kocian) and John Matula in Colorado County. He grew up in Schulenburg and graduated from Schulenburg High School in 1986. He attended Blinn College for a year but decided school wasn’t for him, so he started as a road inspector working for the Texas Department of Transportation as summer help. Later that year, he changed to fulltime employment working in the maintenance section out of the La Grange office. Little did he know this was the beginning of a long career with TxDOT. In 1992, he married Lisa Poppe and they had two daughters, Amber and Heather. In 1999, he became a TxDOT maintenance supervisor in Colorado County and in 2002 he became the supervisor in Fayette County where his career first started. He enjoyed his job but wanted to do something more, so in 2013 he took the next step and became a Texas Map Specialist working in Austin. This was the job he enjoyed the most – he was able to travel the state while rating roads and giving advice to other employees as needed. He sometimes joked that the song “I’ve been everywhere man” was his theme song since his travels took him on every state-maintained road in Texas.
Growing up, Stephen always loved going fishing with his father and uncle Pete and aunt Irene. He would often spend summers with them on their farm in Shiner, and he and his cousin Lavern would “help” as much as they could. He loved being outdoors and welding was one of his many passions. He always said working with metal was so much easier than wood because you could always add on to the metal but you couldn’t just add a piece of wood once you cut it. He also enjoyed hunting with his friends and taking his wife and daughters fishing as often as possible. He loved raising cattle and would spend weekends with Lisa riding around, checking and feeding them.
Stephen was preceded in death by his grandparents, John and Christina Matula and Otto Sr. and Marcella Kocian; parents, John and Annie Matula; and father-in-law Lee Poppe Jr.
He is survived by his wife of 33 years Lisa Matula; daughters Amber and fiance Jarrod Mahalitc and Heather Matula; sister Connie Taylor and husband David; mother-in-law Shirley Poppe; brother-in-law Kyle Poppe and wife Heidi; nephew Jared Taylor; and nieces Devin Taylor and Paige Taylor.
Funeral services were conducted by Fr. Jasper Liggio on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 10 a.m. at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, with burial in the St. Rose Cemetery.