June Acts of Kindness— Joseph Mattson ’75 Blue White Mentor

I can’t say “Thank You enough to Joe for making a job connection for our two senior Chemical Engineering majors, Matt Hughes and Sara Rose Monahan. Joe entered Villanova in September 1971 after graduating from Monsignor Bonner High School. Here is his story: The Augustinians at Bonner were influential in my decision to attend Villanova. I graduated in 1975 with a degree in History, Magna Cum Laude. During my college years I was fortunate to have a job with a National Moving and Storage Company where I worked full time in the summer and part time during the school year. Because I had a partial academic scholarship the monies I earned from the job truly helped with tuition and book payments and I left Villanova with no debt. Very fortunate.

After Villanova I entered Villanova Law School in August, 1975 and graduated in May, 1978. It was during Law School that I married Mary Pat Donohue, also a 1975 graduate of Villanova, in the Villanova Chapel in June, 1977. My wife and I are the parents of five children, one of whom is a Villanova Graduate. They are now all grown, educated and married. We were very involved in their growing up and in their activities and did a lot of things together as a family, one of which was to vacation in Ocean City NJ every summer. And that we still do. Only now we have 8 grandchildren joining the party. We have been blessed to watch our children grow to adulthood and hope we are given the time to see the same with their children. Perhaps one of them will attend Villanova. They may need the service of BWSF at that point so I hope the organization is still around and prospers. We settled down in a small home in Upper Darby. After Graduation from Law School I took and passed the Pennsylvania Bar Exam and began working for a small Law Firm in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. Being a native Delaware Countian I was happy to work and live in Delaware County. Since then we lived in Havertown and now in Marple Township. My Office has been located in Havertown since 1983.

I learned a lot in the early years a practicing law ( and in many ways still learning after 40 years). One of the things that I learned was that is was very important to “give back” to your community as well as to those institutions that helped get you to where you are. I have been involved in volunteer and service work all my adult life. I was a member of the Upper Darby Rotary Club for over 20 years and served a year as President. I was on the Board of Directors of the Community Y of Lansdowne, Pa and served a year as Board Chairman and presently serve as Solicitor. I was a member of the St. Pius X Boy Scout Committee and served two years as Chair. I am active with the Delaware County Bar Association and served as President in 2012. I am an active member of the Bonner Alumni Association and played a big part in helping to keep the school open when they were slated for closure in 2012. I am presently the Chair of the Marple Township Youth Aid Panel which is a program that enables first time non-violent juvenile offenders to avoid a Court Date and keep their record clean. I have been involved with this for over 20 years. Needless to say my nights have been very busy for the past 40 years and I do not know where the time has gone.

However, my wife and I still found time to play tennis, ski and socialize with family and friends. I have of recent gotten back into the pool doing lap swimming a 3-4 times per week swimming at least a mile each time. I am still content practicing Law and have no plans for retirement. I am somewhat of a “General Practitioner” and practice in various areas which keeps things interesting. I got involved with the BWSF as I was at one time a member of the “Wildcat Club”, which eventually became the Blue-White Scholarship Fund. I have been happy to be a supporter of that fund since its inception and I am happy to see it thriving and helping students “bridge the gap”. It’s great for the Villanova Community. In addition I also contribute to the University on an annual basis. I ‘m happy that I am able to “give back” and hope the students who benefit will do the same at some point in the future. I know I am being featured for a “random act of kindness” but I do not like to think of that being anything out of the ordinary. My wife is much more kind than I am. I hope my random act bears fruit for the VU Students involved.

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