Kay Mattson, 83, Bismarck, died in her home December 2 after fighting cancer for the last four years.
Kathleen Lynn Currie, “Kay” to everyone who knew her, was born March 25, 1940, in Devils Lake, ND, to James and Lorraine Currie. Kay graduated from Sisseton (SD) High School in 1958. She married Dick Mattson of Lidgerwood on April 7, 1959. They had been married 62 years when Dick died in January 2022.
They wasted little time starting a family as their first-born son, Jim, came along a little more than nine months after their wedding. He was followed in quick order by Mike, Debi and Jeff. After a pause, maybe to catch her breath, she gave birth to Becky, the youngest, a few years later. She was a whirling dynamo, always on the move 24/7 cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, along with all the other tasks involved with raising five children.
After spending years living in South Dakota and Montana, Dick and Kay returned to Lidgerwood in 1985. In their retirement years, they moved to Marysville, WA, to be close to their daughter, Becky, and her newborn twins. They returned to North Dakota in 2018, settling in Bismarck.
Kay was living in the Touchmark retirement community and had spent the last few months in her own home there. She enjoyed all of the social activities the community had to offer and making new friends. She endeared herself quickly to all the staff with her positive attitude and charm.
Kay loved getting together with family, playing cards late into the night, talking and laughing. She was often one of the last ones to call it quits and head for bed. She was a big fan of the Twins and Vikings and to a lesser degree, the Mariners and Seahawks. She would get excited during Vikings games and was mastering the role of armchair quarterback, surprising her family with her witty smack talk.
She liked keeping track of what friends and family were doing and was busy looking at her Facebook account daily. You could always rely on her for a comment or an emoji. She also enjoyed coloring pictures on her iPad. She had a weakness for desserts, especially chocolate.
Her family knew Kay as stubborn and that showed in her battle with cancer. With affection, they referred to her as “a tough old bird,” who would probably live to see 100. In fact, after starting her most recent round of chemotherapy, scan results were promising with the cancer appearing to recede once again. But the cumulative toll was too much, and she left us quickly and quietly.
A card addressed to her 5 children, penned on January 1, 1989, was found with her documents. The last paragraph read, “I have loved you from the day you were born…I love you with every breath you take…I will love you…forever. Love always, Mom”. She was the glue of the family and will be missed dearly.
Kay is survived by her cherished family. Her three sons, Jim, Fargo; Mike (Corale), Sioux Falls, SD; and Jeff, Moab, UT; two daughters, Debi Grumbo, Bismarck, and Becky Leiferman, Auburn, WA; five grandchildren, Jil (James) Thompson, Cory Grumbo (Cortni Gohman), Caitlin (Nick) Lee, Ben Leiferman and Emma Leiferman; and three great-grandchildren, Bailey Mattson, Lucas Thompson and Jackson Lee.
Cremation has taken place. There will be a celebration of Kay’s life sometime in the spring at which time she and Dick’s ashes will be interred together at Calvary Cemetery in Lidgerwood, ND.