The U.S. flag at Anna Maria City Pier Park was lowered to half mast to honor former Commissioner JoAnn Mattick.
It was a fitting sight, the flag waving over the bayfront and the pier — so near and dear to Mattick.
Laura JoAnn Mattick, 81, of Anna Maria, died Jan. 10.
She served as Anna Maria city commissioner 2007-2012. Before even being elected to her first term, she wrote a grant to fund the Anna Maria City Pier boardwalk, pavilions and landscaping, the largest grant in the city’s history.
Later, as a commissioner, she participated in the planning and heralded the completion of the boardwalk.
Her goals were to beautify the Historic Anna Maria City Pier in a manner consistent with “old Florida charm” and to ensure a place for older and mobility-challenged people to enjoy Anna Maria’s waterfront vista. The Anna Maria pier was frequently named Manatee County’s No. 1 tourist attraction, when such records were tallied.
Other significant contributions during her tenure as a commissioner include the city’s purchase of the six lots at the Pine Avenue-Bay Boulevard intersection, the restructured Pine Avenue parking plan and the comprehensive plan amendment for the environmental and preservation zones.
She is remembered by island locals and small-business owners as a good friend and neighbor who fought to preserve the unique character and charm of the island.
She was born April 13, 1935, to Leola Evelyn and Joseph Fitch in Portsmouth, Ohio, and raised by Ralph and Dortha Sutterfield in Wilder, Kentucky. She married John Anthony Mattick Oct. 1, 1955.
They lived in Cincinnati, where they raised six daughters and one son: Laura, Kathryn Sally, Janet, Sandy, John Francis, Esther and Rebecca.
She fell in love with the tranquility and beauty of Anna Maria Island in the late 1990s, while visiting daughter Sally, who had recently relocated to Sarasota.
She purchased a vacant lot opposite the Rod & Reel Pier and built a home where she resided with her youngest daughter Becky, Becky’s husband David Bouchard and their children, Emma and Will.
It was not long before three more of her children and their families — daughters Sandy and Esther, son John and daughters-in-law Marcia and Tara — followed suit and relocated to her little piece of paradise.
Upon retirement from the city commission, she split her time between Anna Maria and Aurora, Indiana, where she shared a passion for gardening, artisanal crafts and bargain hunting with sister Reba Sue Weldon and her husband Delmar of Sunman, Indiana.
A celebration of life will be held on the island in the spring. Brown & Sons Funeral Homes & Crematory 43rd Street Chapel is in charge of arrangements. Condolences may be made online at www.brownandsonsfuneral.com.
Survivors include children Laura and husband Michael Poirier, Kathryn Sally and husband George Fritz Stauffacher, Janet and husband David Brinton, Sandy, John Francis, Esther and wife Tara O’Brien and Rebecca and husband David Bouchard; daughter-in-law Marcia; grandchildren Fritzy, Alison, Erin, Max, Fred, Nick, Katie, JoJo, Sarah, Caroline, Paige, Michelle, Hallie, Jack, Emma, Will, Jackson and Chloe; two great-grandchildren; half-brother Michael Sutterfield of Cincinnati, Ohio; and step-brother Louis Richard Schardt Jr. of Union, Kentucky.