Lt Col (USAF Ret) George T. Matteson

George T. Matteson, father to four children and grandfather to seven, passed away April 16th, 2011 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He began his life on September 19th, 1932 in Fort Collins, Colorado but soon found himself in Walsenburg, Colorado being raised with his two sisters and one brother by his loving parents. When he was of sufficient age, he left to attend Seminary for the Catholic Priesthood. He was in many ways a very private man and, for reasons known only to him, chose to leave that path after two years to briefly dabble in a career in broadcast journalism before finally devoting himself to the United States Military. In the United States Air Force he started out at the bottom as an Airman, ultimately retiring as a decorated officer with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel having served his country for almost 30 years with the utmost energy, integrity and imagination.

He served us, his family, with an even greater energy, integrity and imagination but blended this with a steadfast love, accepting our failings with quiet support and celebrating our successes with enthusiasm. In 1957 he found and married Donna Jean Mullen, a woman of a strength and resilience equal to his own, and through a nomadic 32 years of military life, raised us, their children, in many different houses but always in one home. It was obvious to those who knew them that in their shared time together they invented a special, unique bond out of the many challenges and opportunities in a life of predictable uncertainty. When she passed away suddenly in 1989, it clearly took a toll on him but he never lost his equilibrium and he never lost his sense of curiosity about the life that surrounded him. He always seemed to be looking for new challenges with a pragmatic and optimistic eye, willing to accept with his usual resilience and faith the changes, both easy and hard, that come with the opportunity of life. It’s with sadness and with this same pragmatic resilience and by the grace of Providence that we his children, Debbie, Kevin, Cindy, Patricia; his grandchildren, Christopher, Daniel, Emily, Ian, Sarah, Jason, and Che’; his brother, Byrne and sisters, Sandy and Karen, must accept this last and final change in his life.

Arrangements under the direction of Swan-Law Funeral Directors, Colorado Springs, CO.