Vivian Jean Matteson

Vivian Jean Matteson, age 81, passed away peacefully on Jan. 25, 2014. Jean has been battling dementia-Alzheimer’s for the past 3 ½ years. Jean was able to stay in her home until late August when she went into the hospital in Orlando. On Sept. 8th, her family reluctantly moved her into an assisted living facility in Land O’Lakes, FL near her daughter, Patti. That transition was an on-going struggle for her, as you can imagine it would be for an independent, strong-willed lady like Jean.

She is loved and will be missed by her 3 children Vicki, Jeff and Patti; 4 grandchildren Jennifer, Joshua, Stacy and Brooke; and 1 great-grandchild Skylar Grace. In addition, Jean has 4 surviving brothers Bobby, Carl, Jake and Larry; 5 surviving sisters Shirley, Ruth, Pat, Nancy and Darlene. Those who preceded her in death were her parents Earl Buck and Elizabeth Turner Buck and sister Beverly.

Jean was born in Danville, Pennsylvania on September 16, 1932 as the next to the oldest child. She was born into a hard working farm family. As was common back then, there were many family struggles and eventually she and her 8 siblings were placed for adoption. Jean spent many of her teen years living with her grandmother, “Gram.” The happy ending to this story is that to this day, although they were raised by different families, the siblings have stayed in touch and continue to see one another and celebrate every summer at their annual Buck Family Reunion in Pennsylvania. Some of our fondest memories come from the times when we were all together listening to the brothers and sisters telling their stories of growing up … especially the sisters!

After graduating high school, Jean and her girlfriend moved to New York City. She had quite a few stories to tell about that experience. Upon her return to Bloomsburg, PA, while working at “Walt’s,” the local family restaurant, she caught the eye of Robert “Bob” Matteson when he would come in for lunch. Their first date did not come easily for Bob; Jean took her time making up her mind. Bob and Jean eloped on October 31, 1952. They settled in Lock Haven, PA and started their family. They eventually moved to Milton, PA with their 3 children where Jean was a beautician and had her own beauty shop built onto their home and followed that by owning and operating a Dairy Queen with Bob.

In 1963, Jean and Bob moved to Orlando, FL with family in tow. Jean went to secretarial school and upon graduation began her career at Sears and ended with her secretarial services to the CEO of Winter Park Hospital. During that time she also volunteered at Conway Little League, as well as being an officer at the District level. Her volunteer service didn’t stop there. She then went on to volunteer with the International Order of Rainbow for Girls, where she was selected to be the State Mother Advisor for the state of Florida and her service continued for many years.

That chapter of her life came to a close after she lost Bob to cancer in July, 1989. Jean stepped into his shoes to help run the successful family business of Mills Avenue Laundry. After expanding with their 2nd laundry and experiencing much success, they sold the businesses and Jean went into semi-retirement. It was hard to keep her still for too long! She went back to part-time work at Freeman’s where she could keep her glass of sweet tea at her desk and after that she began ushering at the Orlando Magic Games and the Bob Carr Auditorium. She had a ball doing that.

The next phase of her life began with retirement. Her idea of retirement was doing puzzles, working in her yard, which brought her pure joy, visits to PA and socializing with her dear friends and family. She always kept busy.

As her one neighbor said, “Walk into Jean’s home and you could feel the love of her family.”

Jean loved her family, her friends, her home, her flowers and Penn State Football. She never lost ties to Pennsylvania and continued to stay in touch with her siblings. She loved to celebrate the holidays and passed down her tradition of over-the-top celebrating and decorating for Christmas, as well as all other holidays. There are pictures showing Jean decorating their Christmas tree by placing the silver tinsel on every needle of every branch on the entire tree. It took weeks to complete!

And, could she bake! Walk into her home and smell her pies, or cookies, or casseroles, or spaghetti, or her Holiday dinners and you knew you were home. Every holiday dinner was at her house because she wouldn’t have it any other way.

As stated earlier, Jean began to show obvious signs of Alzheimer’s around September, 2010. To say she is in a better place is an understatement. Jean once again has her memories and her dignity. And, no doubt, she is dancing with Bob and having fun catching up with all of her family and friends who have gone before her.

Her children would like to thank all who loved their mother, all who looked out for her in her neighborhood, and to those of you who supported our family as we made some very tough decisions.

Jean’s Memorial will be held this Saturday, Feb. 1 from 5:00-8:00 pm, with a Service beginning at 6:30 pm, at Woodlawn Memorial Park. As an expression of sympathy, memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association Florida Gulf Coast Chapter, in memory of Vivian Jean Matteson. Your contribution will stay in the local area and a receipt will be sent to you.

To contribute, there are 2 choices:

Choice #1: on-line

- Alz.org/flgulfcoast

- Click on Donate, then to Memorial & Tribute.

Choice #2: Mail. Send donation to:

- Alzheimer's Association

Florida Gulf Coast Chapter

14010 Roosevelt Boulevard, Suite 709

Clearwater, FL 33762-3820

Flowers may be sent to:

Woodlawn Memorial Park and Funeral Home

400 Woodlawn Cemetery Road

Gotha, FL 34734

407-293-1361