Matthias Edison Fuhong Barron

Matthias Edison Fuhong Barron, 24, of Denver, Colorado passed away on April 22, 2026. He was a curious, intellectual, kind, and caring young man. Matthias was born Dang Fuhong on March 20th, 2002 (a Wednesday) at the 1st People's Hospital of Yangquan City in Shanxi, China, to unknown parents. From the onset of his life he was missing information about who he was and how he fit into the world, and he would spend the rest of his life trying to understand this. He lived in the Yangquan City Social Welfare Home (orphanage) until he was six years old, when he was adopted by the Wenger family in Arizona whom he lived with until he was 11. For reasons that he will never understand, he was then given up to be adopted by the Barron family and moved to Colorado. Five years later, he was placed into residential care at Shiloh house. While at Shiloh, he finally felt he could build trusting relationships and feel safe enough to learn about himself. He transitioned to Third Way Center Lincoln when he was 18, where he lived until he was 21. Though he was prickly and a self-described "knuckle-head", and "grumpy old man", he worked hard to understand how his experiences and attachment shaped him and impacted his ability to have relationships and be cared for. He learned how his behaviors were the fight of a child trying to make sense of the world after numerous abandonment wounds and a constant struggle to understand what forgiveness meant. He had recently begun to put this process into words by writing poetry. 

Matthias graduated with his high school diploma from Shiloh and took a number of courses at the Community College of Denver. He was hard working, loved learning and was perpetually curious in his pursuit of understanding love, faith, and justice. He had a sarcastic sense of humor and knack for finding flaws in anyone he met, which he himself knew was a defense. He enjoyed playing games, especially Magic and Dungeons and Dragons. He also enjoyed spending time outside taking photos of flowers, a way to appreciate and share the beauty he saw in his surroundings. He was dedicated to his work at Chipotle, Safeway, and Wendy's and involved in the community group Elevated Connections. He is survived by his cat Buddy (Egg Salad), estranged adopted family members, and those he chose to consider his family-  Paige, Allan, Matt, Maggie, Heather, Renee and the rest of the Third Way staff.

A memorial service will be held at Cheesman Park on May 23 at 1pm. We will meet on the east side near the Botanic Gardens, to appreciate the flowers. Please consider donating to contribute to memorial costs at @Matthiasfund on Venmo. Excess donations will be used to establish a scholarship at Third Way to help kids that have been adopted from outside of the United States understand their own stories. We imagine he has now found the peace he sought on Earth, is playing card games and watching Anime. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with emotional distress mental or thoughts of suicide, please don't wait to call or text for help 988 or chat at https://chat.988lifeline.org/. You are more loved than you know. 

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