Fanny Morris Mattson died February 9, 2019 in Kingsford, Mi. after a courageous battle with ALS, also called Lou Gehrig’s Disease. She was 80 years old.
Fanny was born in Jackson, Mi. to Frank Rockwell Morris and Marian Russell Morris on July 19, 1938. She attended The Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pa.
and Denison University in Granville, Oh. before returning to her hometown to work as a reporter for the Jackson Citizen Patriot. She married Theodore Dale “Ted” Mattson, of Felch, Mi.
in April, 1968. After Ted’s job at Phillips Petroleum Co. took them to Cadillac and Flint, they moved to Lansing in 1973. In 2002, they moved to Kingsford.
Fanny was ahead of her time. She considered teaching and attended secretarial school, but decided she wasn’t interested in either. She found the job she loved as a reporter at the Citizen Patriot at a time there were very few women in journalism.
In 1967 she wrote a story about the Jackson’s first woman mayor and the challenges she faced because of her gender. That year the Michigan Women’s Press Club recognized her for her reporting. In Lansing, Fanny worked for many years in the advertising department for the Lansing State Journal.
Then, ready for a change, she worked as an administrative assistant helping to coordinate an international horticultural conference at Michigan State University Fanny was also a generous volunteer. She was a driver for the American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery program in Lansing and at the Dickinson Memorial Hospital in Iron Mountain. She was a member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, (the Philanthropic Educational Organization), which provides scholarships, grants and loans for women to pursue higher education worldwide.
She was a member of the Trinity United Methodist Church in Iron Mountain. She was great fun. She loved to play cards and entertain.
She was a master at Gin Rummy. She had a great sense of humor and made a mean lasagna that she claimed had helped her catch the man of her dreams – Teddy Mattson. For years she and Ted spent the better part of the winter in Islamorada, Fl.
There they hosted friends and family, boating and teaching their grand nieces and nephews how to ocean fish and play cards. Fanny loved animals, from her loyal Rottweilers, to the foxes that occasionally crossed her yard, to the thousands of birds and occasional squirrels she and Ted kept fed. Most importantly she cared fiercely about family.
While still single, she would host sleep-overs for nieces and nephews, cooking them dinner and letting them stay up late. She never had kids – but in fact she had many and they all loved her like a mom. Fanny is survived by her husband of 50 years, Ted; a brother, Frank R. Morris of Columbus, Oh.
and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents and her sister, Mary Ann Hitt. Visitation will be from 10:00 to 11:00 am on Saturday, February 23 at Trinity United Methodist Church in Iron Mountain.
Memorial services will follow at 11:00 am at the church. Rev. Geri Hamlen will officiate.
Burial will be in the Felch Cemetery in the spring. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Trinity United Methodist Church or the AN Chapter of the P.E.O. Condolences may be expressed to the family of Fanny Mattson online at www. ernashfuneralhomes.com.
The family has entrusted the Erickson-Rochon & Nash Funeral Home of Iron Mountain with the arrangements. To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Fanny Mattson please visit our Sympathy Store.
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