Obituary of Norman Otto Mattson

The Reverend Norman Otto Mattson, 80 died on June 3rd at Woodlands Nursing Home in Plainfield. Born in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, he spent his childhood in Richmond Hill, Queens. Following graduation from John Adams High School, he served in the Army during World War II. Rev. Mattson graduated from Upsala College , Augustana Lutheran Seminary and earned a Masters in Theology from Princeton Theological. He served Lutheran churches in Ortonville, Minn., Calgary, Alberta Canada where he was also Protestant chaplain at the Calgary campus of the University of Alberta and Union, New Jersey where he was Protestant chaplain at the now Kean University. Upon retirement from the ministry he worked for the New Jersey Division on Aging where he wrote grants and conducted retirement seminars. He is remembered by his family and friends as a person with a strong social conscience. While in Calgary he was a member of an ecumenical group of Protestant ministers, Catholic priests and Jewish rabbis who worked to better conditions for the several Indian tribes in the area. In New Jersey he led his parishners on a march in Elizabeth following the death of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. He took his family to the march against the Vietnam War in Washington. He was also fond of classical music from his earliest years and served on the board of the Plainfield Symphony. Surviving are his wife of 58 years, Jean Squier Mattson; his children Lois Jeanne Mattson and her husband Cory Storch of Plainfield, Kenneth Charles of St. Paul, Minnesota, Joy Louise Mattson of Mystic, Connecticut, Keith Andrew Mattson and his wife Krisna Suryanata of Honolulu, Hawaii; a sister, Viola Abbey of Whiting, NJ and his grandchildren, Alexa and Matthew Storch; Nicholas and Andrew Suryanata Mattson. Funeral services will begin at 1:00 p.m. Thursday at Grace Episcopal church , at the corner of East Seventh Street and Cleveland Avenue in Plainfield. Burial will be at Hillside Cemetery, Woodland Avenue Scotch Plains. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Plainfield Symphony, Box 5093, Plainfield, NJ 07061.