Paul Mattila

About five months ago, Shelby County Trustee Paul Mattila stood in his backyard in Millington and told several dozen people he would be running in the 2010 county elections.

In the barn just a few yards away were signs for the coming campaign and from past ones Mattila had worked over the years.

The sun was shining and the first signs of spring as well as the campaign season were all around. Mattila’s gathering came off just as scheduled with rain right before and after the gathering.

“It looked kind of raggedy this morning,” he told supporters. “But we’ve been blessed again as we have on many occasions this year.”

Mattila had just completed chemotherapy. As soon as doctors finished administering the treatments and gave him a clean bill of health, Mattila announced for re-election.

Five months later, his cancer returned and this time there was no recovery. Mattila, 65, died Friday evening at his home.

Mattila will be remembered with a memorial service today at 5 p.m. at Memorial Park Funeral Home, 5668 Poplar Ave. Visitation is at Memorial Park from 2-5 p.m.

The ties that bind

Mattila won a special election to fill out the remainder of the term of office of Bob Patterson, who died in 2008. He was a top administrator and political adviser to Patterson for 11 years.

“It’s the most important office in county government because all the money comes through here. Everything comes through this office,” Mattila told The Daily News in August 2008 just before winning the election.

Mattila was a Democrat and Patterson was a Republican. The political alliance was a formidable combination with Patterson enjoying crossover support while maintaining his undisputable roots in the local GOP.

Mattila’s ties to the Democratic Party were just as undisputable with his blue collar and labor union roots. The duties of the office often took both men to Nashville to lobby for or against legislation.

“Let me tell you something, Bob was more familiar to me than almost anyone I’ve known,” Mattila said of the alliance. “Just think about the two of us together, going up to Nashville all those times on that highway. That’s a long ride.”

Many congrats

Mattila was a one-time aide to Democratic Congressman John Tanner and knew the political customs of rural West Tennessee as well as those within Memphis. The knowledge extended to whom to let speak at a rally and who would do best just by waving to the crowd.

In 2008, Mattila immediately rallied local Democrats in the special election for trustee after claiming the appointment from the Shelby County Commission to fill the office until the election. Democrats took not only the register’s office in the coming election, but the party kept the assessor’s office in the Democratic column and, in a surprise, took the General Sessions Court clerk’s office when Otis Jackson upset incumbent Republican Chris Turner.

“The bigger picture is not this year,” Mattila told the local Democratic Party’s executive committee in 2008. “The bigger picture is 2010. If we can sit down now and work out whatever issues we have … put our resources together and work toward common goals, we can change the face of county government completely in 2010.”

Mattila vowed there would be no shakeup in the leadership of the trustee’s office following Patterson’s death, and there wasn’t.

His first day at work after the election, employees gathered with a banner reading, “Congratulations Paul.”

“I walked in, looked up at it and said, ‘You’ve got the wrong name on the sign,’” Mattila said. “The sign shouldn’t read, ‘Congratulations Paul.’ It should read ‘Congratulations Y’all.’”