Patricia A. Mattson, 81, passed away suddenly on July 5, 2023, at her home in Barnard, Vermont.
She was born on April 1, 1942, in Queens, New York, the daughter of Thomas and Katherine (Gillespie) Harkins. She grew up in Oyster Bay, New York. Pat Mattson spent a number of years living in Connecticut as well as Reading, Killington and Barnard, Vermont.
Mattson associated with several local organizations including The Kings Daughters, The Silver Lake Progressive Club, The Woodstock Garden Club, and The Sharp Readers Book Club. She also became a chaplain and helped people in need at Mt. Ascutney Hospital. Let’s not forget the camaraderie she found with the Hot Tomatoes, who met monthly for dinner, and more especially, cocktails and good times.
She enjoyed her home and all her gardens as well as her many dogs, horses and donkeys. She loved to walk her dogs Grace and Golly to the Pogue and Silver Lake Park. She was a true lover of nature and animals.
In her earlier years, she was an equestrian who rode with the hounds in Connecticut hunt clubs as well as fox hunting in Ireland. She skied, played tennis and was a fierce pickleball competitor. She also travelled to various foreign lands with repeated ventures to the Emerald Isle and Scotland.
Pat Mattson is survived by her daughter Jeanne Kennie of Barnard, and grandmother to Jeanne’s dog Blue and her five rescue parrots. She also has two stepsons, Paul Mattson and his wife Bobbi in Utah, and Roy Mattson along with his partner, Richard Eustice of Massachusetts. In addition to her parents, she is predeceased by a stepson Peter Mattson and a brother Thomas Harkins, Jr.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 22 at 10 a.m. at the Church of Our Savior in Killington, Vermont, where Pat Mattson was a devoted congregant who enjoyed reading scripture and served on the church’s board. She had a deep spiritual relationship with Mission Farm that spanned many decades. The burial will take place in the Mission Farm Memorial Garden, at a later date.
Memorial donations may be made to Mission Farm, 316 Mission Farm Road, Killington, VT, 05751 to help to fund the memorial garden.
