Ex-WSP district leader Mattson dies

Stacy G. Mattson, a former district commander and Eastern Washington inspector for the Washington State Patrol in Spokane, died of a heart attack Aug. 11 in Ellensburg. He was 91.

“He’s the type of person if you didn’t do something right, he’d bring you in and talk to you and when you left there you’d feel good,” said Gene Osburn, a retired WSP sergeant who worked under Mattson in Spokane. “He’s the type of leader you’d follow anywhere.”

Mattson lived in Spokane for about 35 years before moving to Ellensburg 3 1/2 years ago. He was well-known in Spokane through his job and his involvement with the Rotary Club, Kiwanis and Free Masons.

“I don’t know of anybody who didn’t like Stacy Mattson. I don’t know anyone who said a bad word about him,” Osburn said. “He was a gift to the patrol.”

Rick Myers, who replaced Mattson as district commander, called Mattson “a heck of a mentor.” He also said Mattson was a wonderful Scandinavian storyteller and was “extremely well-known for his Norwegian jokes.”

“Of all the people I ever knew in the state patrol, he was Mr. State Patrol,” Myers said. “He epitomized everything that a member of the state patrol should have been.”

Mattson worked for the WSP for 35 year in Olympia before moving to Spokane in the mid-1960s. After retiring from the patrol in 1973, Mattson built a New England-style home with antique furniture overlooking Hangman Valley. There, he ran the Hanging Tree Antiques shop out of his house.

According to Myers, Mattson would give tours of his home dressed up in early American costume.

“It was something to behold,” Myers said. “There was nothing like it I’d ever seen around here.”

Mattson was born June 26, 1913, in Seattle. He graduated from Olympia High School in 1931 and attended St. Martin’s College in Lacey, Wash. He married Arlene Waters in 1938.

Survivors include his wife and two sons, Scott D. Mattson of Ellensburg, and Jeffrey Page Mattson of San Gabriel, Calif.

No services will be held. Steward & Williams Tribute Center in Ellensburg handled the arrangements.