Claire Susanne Kueffer Mataia
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Claire Susanne Kueffer Mataia, 41, went to be with the Lord on February 24, 2024, after a bus accident in Arusha, Tanzania.
Claire was born in Lawrence, Kansas, on November 22, 1982, to Steve and Pam Dummermuth Kueffer. As early as she could, Claire was forever active at her church and community serving others. Claire graduated with honors from Baldwin High School in 2001. She attended Baker University for her BS and MS in elementary education. She taught elementary in the Baldwin School District for many years until resigning in 2014. For a short time, she served as church secretary and children’s church director at Mustard Seed Church (now Rev City Church) until answering the call to serve as a missionary for Youth with a Mission (YWAM).
While with YWAM, Claire taught English (ELM) to other missionaries in Lausanne, Switzerland, for five years and spent three years teaching and serving refugees in Africa. During her time in YWAM, she received a MS in Global Pioneering Leadership from the University of the Nations. She met the love of her life, Paulo Mataia on the mission field. They were married in a lovely ceremony where she just beamed with joy on May 20, 2023, at the YWAM base in Kansas City, Missouri.
Claire’s fingerprints and footprints are all over the globe from her time as a missionary with YWAM. She met so many wonderful people and absolutely loved what she did. It seems impossible to write about who our Claire was, her impact, and how very much we will miss her. Hard to describe her love, joy, and laughter. There will always be an empty chair in our lives; a wonderful wife, great daughter, loving sister, amazing aunt, and caring friend. We are tremendously proud of her, blessed she was shared with us, and awed that her last day on Earth she spent worshipping our King. We hold on to the hope that this is not “goodbye,” but “see you later.”
Claire is survived by her husband, Paulo and his three children, Deborah Lynne, Gracelynn, and Mana; her parents, Steve and Pam Kueffer; her six brothers, Clint and Sarah Kueffer, Chet and Elizabeth Kueffer, Cy Kueffer, Caj and Hannah Kueffer, Clad and Kelsey Kueffer, Chip and Morgan Kueffer; one sister, Chloe Kueffer; many nieces and nephews; and lots of family and friends. Claire was preceded in death by her brother, Kyle Kueffer.
A celebration of life service will be held on Saturday, March 23, 2024, 2:00 p.m., at Rev City Church, 700 Wakarusa Drive, Lawrence, Kansas 66049. A burial will be held at the Vinland Cemetery.
The service will be made available online for those that are not physically able to attend the service. https://my.revcity.com/claire
The Kueffer family holds a special place in my heart. They are such a lovely family and my thoughts and prayers go out to them with the passing of Claire.
Having known Pam and Steve since our crazy married college days in Robb’s Trailer Court in Fayette, Mo, our hearts are broken over their loss of Claire. We were around when our hearts were all broken when Kyle died. I don’t understand how they are surviving this! Please know that we continue to pray for Pam and Steve. We know you will see Kyle and Claire again, and what a joyous reunion it will be. Our love and prayers continue…… we love all of you so much. We live in Florida now so we will have to plan a reunion with you! We love all of you forever and continue to pray for you. Love, Becky and Bob Day
Sending love and prayers to surround you!!
Your family is such an inspiration of God’s love, hope, and glory! Thank you for serving the Lord selflessly! We continue in prayer for your family. The the Lord would wrap you in His loving arms. In Christ,
What a beautiful tribute to an amazing person! It sums up all of my thoughts of her….kind, loving, always smiling, generous, conscientious, and a proud representative of faith and goodness. As a student and a teacher, her presence was always a blessing and left me with joy, hope, and pride. She was a bright light to many! It was a privilege to know all of the wonderful Kueffer children…each so special…what wonderful parent to inspire such amazing people! May your hold each other tight and cherish all of your moments with Claire!
My heart breaks for you all. Claire was such a sweet soul who loved Jesus. I am so grateful to have grown up alongside her at church. She is deeply missed. Praying for you all.
We are so sorry for your loss, her dedication to missionary work will have planted many seeds that the Lord will use to touch others.
Mike & Donna Murray
We are so very sorry to hear of your loss and send our condolences your way. What a beautiful tribute to her and the amazing work she was committed to. May she continue to shine upon others in all the memories of her. As I say God needs flowers in his garden too and she, a beautiful one at that, was chosen at this time to be with God. We are sorry that we didn’t have the opportunity to know Claire, what a beautiful soul. Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time.
I have known Claire for 12 years. We met at Mustard Seed Church when I started attending and we also had Bible study together. She was a shining light and a sweet friend. We would talk when she came back from her missionary work. She will truly be missed. God needed her early in her life.
Hi there Kueffer family. Words can’t express how I’m trying to process what happened. I remember her as a small child and all the children running around at the Mustard Seed. I want to share my love and heartfelt love for you all. May God surround you with His Holy Spirit and Glory as you walk through this.
Dear family and friends of Claire, we got to know Claire when we were all living in Egypt. My husband Willem from South Africa and me Marina from The Netherlands. Claire was a regular guest at our house and one time she stayed with us for a week this was just a bit before she left to go to the US we were so much looking forward meeting her again together with Paolo her husband. She was such a loving friend to us both and she is missed here and for sure missed by you all over there in the US. May God grant you the grace to go through this period of grief and of waiting to be reunited with Claire on That Day!
Gene Pardo
What a beautiful Daughter. Life is so full of happy times and unfortunately, sad times. Claire did a tremendous amount of great things and her family is very blessed. I pray that God will keep Claire’s family safe, healthy and peaceful during this very difficult time. i will be praying to God for Claire and her family.
So sorry for this tremendous loss of your dear daughter, Claire. Nothing can diminish that and there is a time to grieve. May God flood you with His Grace, healing and peace until you meet her again in Heaven.
My condolences to Paulo and all of Claire’s family, extended family, friends, and fellow YWAM family. I JUST NOW found out about Claire’s passing r/t the accident in Tanzania. I had been informed about Paulo’s status and other YWAMers in the bus, but not about Claire. I’m shocked. My heart genuinely grieves for Paulo, Claire’s loved ones and friends. What a tremendous earthly loss. I’m so very sorry.
I met Claire in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii at the Memrial service for Loren Cunningham, founder of Youth With a Mission International an University of the Nations. She was very easy to meet and know! We had a nice chat and I saw her love for Jesus and passion for missions. I had attended the wedding of Paulo, her husband and late first wife, June . I helped welcome his son and 2 daughters to the fold. They are also very talented.
I also became widowed in Ywam. My children were raised on the Kona campus and participated fully in mission endeavors growing up. I can never thank God enough for the support and opportunity I have had to continue my service in this mission. Sad to say, almost 5 years ago my daughter also died. When I saw Claire landing in Kansas City in that wooden crate, it unleashed an outpouring of Aloha for the Keffler ohana. I totally understand. And you lost a son as well? You have been in my prayers daily since the accident. I grieve with you and the Mataia ohana. ..you have suffered a great loss. During this time of Easter and this Good Friday..I am reminded of Gods word telling us .”..surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” and the man of sorrows was/is acquainted with grief like no other. May the comforter fill your heart with blessings for a thousand generations. In aloha.
I just saw the news of Claire’s death. What a loss for those of us in the family of Christ. I can only imagine your heartbreak to lose such a special child at such a young age. Death is such a mystery. I’m so happy that she was so dedicated to the Lord.