JOHN A. MATTSON

JOHN A. MATTSON, Lt. Comm. USN, Ret 5/16/1934 - 9/27/2012 John Mattson died peacefully at home after a long illness which he bore with dignity and grace. He is survived by his wife of 26 years, Stephanie Greene; two sons by his previous marriage to Edna O'Neill Mattson: John O. Mattson (Annette) and James Mattson of Rhode Island; and granddaughter, Anna Mattson-Hofmann of Chicago. Their third son, Edwin Mattson, passed away in 1981. John was born in Holden, Massachusetts to John Walter Mattson and Signe Pettersson Mattson. Upon graduating from Holden High School, John attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute for two years, but he had a passion to fly, so he enlisted in the Navy and competed the Naval Air Cadet program. He went on to complete his Bachelor's degree in engineering from the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, California. As a Navy pilot, he earned eight medals including a Bronze Star, Air Medal, Navy Achievement Medal and Vietnam Service Medal with Silver Star. His other tours of duty included serving as a formation flying instructor, and as planning officer at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Retiring from the Navy, John settled in North Kingstown, RI and received his Masters degree in engineering from the University of RI. He served as Safety Director at Brown University in Providence, and a was member of the North Kingstown Planning Commission. When he and Stephanie married in 1986, they located to Santa Fe, New Mexico. John worked as a safety engineer at Los Alamos National Lab. Continuing his service to community after retirement from the lab, he served on the SF Water Advisory Board, and was a volunteer at the SF Public Library. John loved gardening, making home improvements, music, college football, and the Boston Red Sox. He and Steph loved to travel, and had many adventures including exploring New Mexico and the Southwest by car, train and bus, cruising Hawaii and the Caribbean, and visiting Finland where he discovered many cousins he had never met. John was a quiet man of modest demeanor who will be greatly missed by family and friends. He has been cremated, and the family will gather in the spring to scatter his ashes in the mountains he love.