Harold Mattfeld never let his age get in the way of the many things he wanted to do in his lifetime, whether it was traveling, driving and especially flying.

Harold William Mattfeld, 103, also known as “Matt,” of Austin passed away Sept. 12, 2015.

“He always liked adventure, he was always willing to try anything,” Susan Hall, one of Matt’s daughters, said.

“Even when other people thought he was absolutely crazy to try it,” Shirley Mattfeld, Matt’s second daughter, added with a laugh.

Matt moved from Fort Dodge, Iowa, to Austin in the 1950s to open a Payless Cashway lumber store that later became part of a successful chain of businesses pioneered by S.M. Furrow and family.

Matt’s daughters remembered their father as a hard worker and mentor to many of his employees. Susan recalled several people who worked for her father saying he was like a second father and was a wonderful mentor.

“It’s been very gratifying to hear those sort of things,” Susan said.

A legacy in lumber

The Cashway lumberyard, which used to be located along Old Highway 218 North — now Mower County Highway 45 — constructed its own rail spur line in the days when lumber materials were transported by rail. Shirley remembered even a destructive arson fire in November 1965 couldn’t stop her father and the Cashway lumberyard.

“It was important [to him] to keep the business operating in the community and supply what the community needed,” Shirley said.

The Cashway business opened in May 1952 and served customers in a 100-mile radius of Austin. It lasted until the mid-1970s, when the business was sold. Matt retired before that in 1971.

In a 2003 article, Matt told the Herald the store had everything from paint to tools, cabinets and more.

“It was the Furrow family’s way of doing business — offer them everything they needed to build something,” he said in 2003.

“We were the first do-it-yourself lumber store in town,” Matt had added. “We represented a different way of doing business.”

Susan even remembered their father taking the family on a trip to see how lumber was made.

Susan and Shirley remembered their father as a hard-working man all his life, and recalled stories he would tell of selling magazine subscriptions door to door at 6 or 7 years old, sweeping floors at the hardware store, dealing with the coals at the school and other various jobs.

“There wasn’t a time that he wasn’t working that he could really remember,” Shirley said.

Susan said her father was very successful in life, and he worked hard to get there.

“I think he always felt that working hard was important, and that if you worked hard and saved your money, you could be successful,” she said.

Matt didn’t spend all his time working though, and spent many years traveling with his late wife, Elma, who he married on Sept. 14, 1941. Matt also traveled to see his daughters often in Connecticut, where he thought about moving to be near family after Elma passed away. Yet he didn’t want to leave the friendships he made over the years in Austin.

“Those kinds of friendships that he made throughout his life in Austin are just remarkable,” Susan said.

Shirley recalled her father’s disappointment when he realized he didn’t recognize as many people in the grocery store or out and about any longer. Over the years, he had integrated himself into the community for both his business and his love for people. He was a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church, and he was involved in the Lion’s Club, SCORE, the YMCA board and more.

“He grew up in a small community and that was foreign to him, because in a community this size people knew each other,” Shirley said.

An adventurous spirit

He played tennis into his 80s and golfed into his 90s. He drove until he was 100.

Matt served in World War II as a flight instructor for the Army Air Corps, as he already knew how and loved to fly before the war. Susan said he trained people who would become fighter pilots, teaching them to fly in open cockpit biplanes.

“Flying was very important to him,” she said.

He learned to fly in Fort Dodge, and his daughters don’t remember a long period of time that he didn’t own or co-own a plane. He flew until he was 90, when the insurance companies would no longer insure him.

“He still passed his flight physical,” Shirley said.

Matt was always the most comfortable in the air, though, and when he was 96, he went to the Panama Canal, Costa Rica and the Pacific Coast with Shirley and her husband and zip-lined through the rainforest.

“Boy did he inspire the rest of the people on this trip,” Shirley laughed.

He also tried parasailing, snorkeling, rode a camel, stayed on a house boat in the Florida Keys, went on a go-cart, rode in a hot-air balloon, tried roller blading in his 90s, and much more over the years.

“We were running out of things that he hadn’t done,” Shirley said.

Shirley remembered her father telling one of her sons that “If you don’t feel like getting up and moving, that’s when you really need to get out and do something.” She said her father came from a long-lived family, as his two older brothers were also still alive when he was in his early 90s. Matt always aspired to live to 100, and after he reached that goal he just kept living.

“He had a wonderful life with many rich experiences and wonderful friends and community support,” Susan said.