Carol D. Mattison

Carol D. Mattison April 26, 1949 – March 15, 2021 “Remember me with smiles and laughter, for that is how I will remember you all. If you can only remember me with tears, then don’t remember me at all.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder. Carol was born April 26, 1949 in Comanche, Oklahoma to parents Eddie Marie and LB Vanzant Jr. LB moved his family from Oklahoma to Tucson in the mid 1960’s due to his job with the Southern Pacific Pipeline (with short stays in El Paso, TX and Deming, NM). Carol graduated from Palo Verde High School in 1967. Carol married her first husband, Jerry Hall in 1967 and had her first two children shortly after: Julie and Jeffrey. After the dissolution of that marriage, Carol married Norman “Rick” Mattison in 1974 and had sons Steven and Philip. Carol worked in the district office for Tucson Unified School District for many years and also worked as a property manager at multiple apartment and mobile home communities across Tucson, retiring as the manager of Carefree Village Estates in 2013. Although she lived in Tucson most of her life, Carol still considered herself a small town girl, a proud Okie. When she passed, a copy of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book “On the Banks of Plum Creek” was by her side. Carol was preceded in death by her husband Rick and step daughter Sheree Wallace. She is survived by daughter Julie Diaz (Beto); sons Jeffrey Hall, Steven Mattison (Jill), Philip Mattison (Rebecca); step daughter Michele Fitzmaurice (Tom); sister Danna Sandrock; grandchildren: Danny Martin (Cat), Deanna Iverson, Andrea Fitzmaurice, Robert Iverson (Molly), Stephanie Wallace, Carissa Fitzmaurice, Rusty Iverson, David Wallace, Morgin Mattison (Nate), Jaydin Morris, Van Mattison, JJ Mattison, Gracie Mattison; great grandchildren: Isabella Fitzmaurice, Jayden Klopfenstein, Kane Iverson, Kenzie Iverson, Colby Lamb, and Elias Wallace. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Employee Appreciation Fund at the Handmaker Assisted Living Center in Tucson https://www.handmaker.org/donations/employee-appreciation-fund The staff provided amazing care and companionship for our mother during this difficult pandemic when family could not be by her side.