Obituary of Matthew Lane Telford

Matthew Lane Telford, 56, of Twin Falls, Idaho passed away with the love of his life by his side on Monday, August 30, 2021. Matt was born on December 23, 1964 in Idaho Falls. He was the son of Byron Keith and Diane Louise Fleming Telford. He was the youngest of six children. He attended school in Shelley Idaho and graduated from Shelley High School in 1983. After high school, he served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Columbus Ohio mission. Matt was a cattle buyer, a trade he learned working alongside his father at saleyards across Idaho. It was his life’s work and it was a source of pride that he had buyer number 5 at all of the auctions he frequented. Matt’s first love was feeding cattle and he had a talent for seeing the potential in “plain cattle” and turning them into a quality product. Matt also followed in his father’s footsteps with his decade’s long relationship buying cattle for Dennis Roth of Roth Enterprises in Fresno, California. This lifetime in the cattle business created cherished friendships across the industry and in saleyards across the country. Matt was an avid team roper and competed in many USTRC and amateur rodeo events as well as a handful of PRCA rodeos. He loved rodeo and in recent years enjoyed sponsoring some up and coming professional rodeo athletes. Some of his fondest memories were spent in his home arena, heeling for his closest friends. Matt met his soulmate, Dr. Melinda Dawson Roche, 12 years ago and became fast friends. Known by those closest to them as Doc and Tilly, they lived life to the fullest together until his very last breath. Tilly purchased a yearling racing quarter horse filly for Doc for her 40th birthday and that developed into a shared past-time of quarter horse racing that was one of their favorite things to do together and opened up a whole new world of people Tilly considered friends. He was a lifelong animal lover and spent his days caring for more than can be named. He was a loving caretaker and generous man, always thinking about others before himself. He is survived by Melinda and their beloved dog, Dinah, who was lovingly called “Badge”. He is also survived by his siblings: Pam (Val) Klingler of Rigby Idaho, Brad (Linda) Telford of Medford Oregon, and Leslie Edrington of Spring Texas. He was a favorite uncle to 19 nieces and nephews and was considered family by most of his friends. Matt was preceded in death by his father Byron Keith Telford, his mother Diane Telford, a sister Sandra Kay Telford, brother Bob (Cody)Telford, Mark Telford and a brother-in-law Hank Edrington. Funeral services will be held Saturday, September 4, 2021 at 11 AM at Rock Creek Ward, 840 West Midway St., Filer, ID with Bishop Stevenson officiating. In Matt’s legacy please consider either sending flowers to the church or a donation gift to the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund at www.justincowboycrisisfund.org