Frederick Mattila

Obituary of Frederick Mattila Houghton Canal Frederick "Fred". Mattila, 82, a resident of the Houghton Canal passed away Tuesday March 8, 2011, at the Houghton County Medical Care Facility in Hancock where he had been a patient for the past month. He was born in Kearsarge a son of the Felix & Emily (Heikkinen) Mattila, and raised in Traprock Valley and attended the Lake Linden Schools. On November 29, 1947 Fred was united in marriage to MaryLou Eckloff in Laurium Fred started working as an iron worker in 1947, on the Power House in Lake Linden, he also was very proud of his work on the Portage Lake Lift Bridge, Michigan Tech Buildings and numerous other jobs. Mr. Mattila owned and operated several businesses, Skyway Court Motel in Boston Location from 1952 to 1961 in 1964 he built and was owner operator of the Downtowner Motel in Houghton, and also owned Sportcats an Artic Cat Snowmobile dealership. Fred served on the Houghton City Council as a write in candidate in 1971, was a volunteer fireman with the Houghton Fire Department for 10 years. His hobbies included spending time at "The Dam Shack" in Traprock Valley, building, hunting, touring, welding, boating and snowmobiling. He attended the Grace United Methodist Church in Houghton, was a member of Iron Workers Local 783 then Milwaukee Local 8 from 1947 to 1989; retaining his membership till present. Preceding him in death were his parents, a sister, Betty Anderson and son-in-law, Emory Medlyn. Surviving are his wife, MaryLou, 1 son, Rod (Pam Shahnaz) Mattila of Houghton Canal; 3 daughters, Sharon Ringler of Houghton, Starr Medlyn of Hudson, WI; and Penny Mattila of Atlantic Mine; a brother, Harvey (Betty) Mattila of Acton, CA,4 sisters, Barbara (Joe) Reilly of Lake Linden, Lenore (Roy) Bonini of Bootjack, Florence (Bob) Sorvala of Chassell; Loie (Weldy) Gaulin of Lake Linden; 8 grandchildren, Jay & Jo'el Ringler, Shane Kotila, Corey Bruneau, Sydney Hill, Zoey Shahnaz, Bruce McLean & Melissa Springer. He is also survived by 8 great grandchildren, numerous nieces, nephew and cousins. Funeral Services will be held, 11 A.M., Friday, March 11, 2011 at the Memorial Chapel Funeral Home in Hancock with Rev. David Goudie, pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Houghton to officiate. Visitation will be held on Thursday, March 10, 2011 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Memorial Chapel Funeral Home and 1 hour prior to services on Friday at the funeral home. Spring burial will be in the Lake View Cemetery in Calumet. On line condolences may be expressed to the family and Fred's obituary viewed at www.memorialchapelfuneralhome.net To send flowers to the family of Frederick Mattila, please visit Tribute Store