Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Coming home is never an automatic and Neil Mattson hadn’t planned on moving back to Forest Lake.

But when his father suffered a heart attack, a young Neil Mattson did return home, never to leave.

That was 50 years ago when Mattson was just one year out of college and charting his own career as a funeral home director. Archie Mattson’s cardiac problem, however, sent his son home to help his father in what is still today Mattson Funeral Home, a mortuary business that dates back 122 years to its start in Scandia.

Coming home then was the thing to do, Mattson said, reflecting on a half century in the business.

“If he (his father) had not had the heart attack, I don’t think I would have moved home — at least not right then,” Mattson said.

He had graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in mortuary science in 1956 and had gone to work for a funeral home in Austin. When his father needed help, Neil Mattson did what most good sons would do — he came home.

The younger Mattson, the third generation of Mattsons to work in the business, bought out his father in 1965 and remains a minority partner today with Vertin Companies.

His path in life

That Mattson would wind up in the funeral home business is not a big surprise, but yet a move his parents never pushed on their son.

Neil Mattson had early ties to the business as a young boy, but in his high school years here, found work in other town businesses, including the Forest Theatre.

He remembers the early days when he would hop in the car with his grandfather, Charles A. Mattson, and go for rides. That was around 1940.

“I used to ride around with him,” Mattson said. “He’d bring flowers and we’d set up the cemetery for a funeral. He did it, really. I was just 6.”

Mattson grew up in a family that worked hard. His father ran Mattson Funeral Home, operated a dry goods store in Forest Lake and also had an interest with his brother-in-law in the Sprain Funeral Home in Chisago City.

Neil’s mother, Mildred, a registered nurse, worked at a hospital in St. Paul and also operated a maternity home in Forest Lake for a number of years.

The hard work ethics of his parents was a good lesson in life, Mattson said.

Neil Mattson graduated from Forest Lake High School in 1952 and enrolled at the University of Minnesota. He started out as an engineering major but had trouble with calculus. “It and I didn’t agree,” Mattson said.

He eventually wound up in the school of mortuary science. Mattson recalls that his father did not encourage the career path because of the pressure and long hours that can be involved.

“My folks tried to keep me out of it,” he says of the business. “It’s a 24/7 job. You have to be dedicated.”

He says it was a “calling” that led him to choose the funeral home business. “I just felt I was supposed to go into the business,” he said.

After college graduation, he had a choice of jobs in Austin, Marshall, where he would have to run two funeral homes, and a business in western Colorado.

“Colorado was a little far from Falcon Heights, so it was Austin,” Mattson said.

Neil and Mabel Mattson, who had met at a Bible camp in the early 1950s, were married in 1957. She was teaching in Falcon Heights when he went to work in Austin.

Moving to Colorado was not an option, he said.

Perfect partner

Mattson says today his longevity in the funeral home business wouldn’t have been possible without the reassuring and steady hand of his wife. While some funeral home directors have not been able to find that life partnership, he has, he says.

In today’s business terms, Mabel Mattson would have been an office manager. During their many years together, she was a steadying hand and skilled bookkeeper who loved to help.

“It would have been tough,” he said of the ability to exist without someone like Mabel to provide help and assistance.

Highs and lows

There were highs and lows during his many years as the main funeral director.

The deaths of many young soldiers and marines in Vietnam and a horrific car crash that claimed five young people in the 1960s are among the lows.

The highs?

Many came in the simple things and being able to help families at a time when they need it most.

“When people come in and say thank you for something they didn’t really want to have to do,” he said.

“There are highs and lows for everybody in every career,” Mattson said.

How much longer will Neil Mattson continue?

That’s uncertain but he continues to be called to work funerals in his home town. “I still participate in a lot of services,” he says.

In May, Mattson traveled to Beaver Dam, WI, where he completed a two-day continuing education course to earn 15 credits and keep his license current.

And earlier this month, the Mattson family was in Minneapolis where he was one of 16 funeral directors honored by the Minnesota Department of Health for 50 years of service in the state. He was one of eight from his University of Minnesota class to be recognized for service.

“I’ve been trying to retire for the past 13 years,” he says with a smile.

In the Mattson family, that’s just not an easy thing to do.

His grandfather, Charles A. Mattson, logged from 1885 to 1940 in the business in Scandia and Forest Lake. Neil’s father, Archie, spent from 1931 to 1965 as the Mattson in charge at Mattson Funeral Home.

With his new two-year license tucked in his pocket, it’s a good bet Neil Mattson will be around for at least another two years.

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