Pete Mattivi loved to tell stories about his life — and he had plenty. He died at 103 with a mind “sharp until the end,” said his daughter, Pamela Bunn of New Castle.
Mattivi died June 27 at an assisted-living center in Rifle.
Mattivi had been active in almost everything that happened in New Castle, 12 miles west of Glenwood Springs.
For years the town had only about 500 residents, but today the number is more than 3,000, Bunn said.
Mattivi and his wife, the late Opal Mattivi, operated Mattivi Motor Co. from 1937 to 1982. They sold Studebaker cars and Phillips gasoline.
Mattivi was mayor from 1954 to 1969 and again from 1974 to 1981. He was a Garfield County commissioner for 20 years, beginning in 1957, and on the school board for 10 years.
He was instrumental in funding the Garfield County Library headquarters, was a founding member of the town’s community center and was an original board member of Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs.
Peter “Pete” Joseph Mattivi was born in Crystal on Sept. 8, 1905, and lived in Marble and Crystal and attended school in the Canyon Creek area.
As kids, he and his brother led burros from Marble to Crystal, carrying mining goods, the mail and groceries, Bunn said.
He attended Coyne Electrical School in Chicago and returned to New Castle, where he went into an automobile repair shop business with his late brother, Matt Mattivi.
He married Opal Wurts on Nov 1, 1931, and for 53 years they operated the Mattivi Motor Co., retiring in 1982. Family members constructed the car company building with sandstone blocks, each one costing 5 or 10 cents, Bunn said. Opal Mattivi died in 2000.
Pete Mattivi loved politics and lived by the rule, “Never make a promise you can’t keep.”
He ran unsuccessfully for the state House of Representatives in the 1960s.
Mattivi’s home had a huge flower and vegetable garden. He liked to sit on his sun porch and visit with people as they walked by, Bunn said.
He often spoke to groups about the history of the county.
In addition to his daughter, he is survived by another daughter, Patricia Werner of Denver; five grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
Services were held in the little red school house he attended as a child.
