Obituary of Herbert Kim Mattatall

It is with great shock and sadness that the family of Herbert (Herb) Kim Mattatall, of Heathbell, Pictou County, Nova Scotia, share the news that he passed away suddenly at the QEII Hospital Hematology unit on Good Friday, April 3, 2026 at the age of 68 after an almost 3 year battle with CLL cancer. He fought hard to do everything possible to live for his family, undergoing treatments without complaint.  When his first treatment stopped working, he went into the hospital to begin another aggressive cancer treatment but suddenly passed from complications from it.

Herb was born in New Glasgow, NS to Charles Herbert and Eva Mary (Turple) Mattatall on August 5, 1957. He grew up on Temperance Street, Westville and attended Westville schools, often walking the railroad tracks to school and town. Herb went on to NSCC in Halifax to take a bricklaying course. He had a boy’s dream job of working on the railroad for CNR, first as a brakeman, then as a conductor and engineer, mostly driving the freight trains from Pugwash to Cape Breton, and he also worked on the passenger trains too. When they shut down, he worked as a trucker for CN Express, Scotsburn Dairy, Pepsi and Stark Oil. He also had his own business, Beech Hill Property Maintenance, for many years, mowing lawns, tilling gardens, cleaning chimneys etc, whatever was needed.

Herb took great pride in working hard, and expected others to do the same. He was always helping others, whether it was with his son-in-law, Jason Brown, start up his own carpentry business, or helping his other son-in-law, Eddie Lyons, with lobster fishing. He also spent hours searching for vehicles and car parts for his daughters, tilling gardens, and definitely giving sage advice about everything. He loved keeping their property looking immaculate, growing 3 wonderful big gardens, planting fruit trees in the backyard, and always planning ahead with cutting/splitting wood for the woodstove. He built a wooden swingset from railroad ties and cemented it right into the ground, and a playhouse for his daughters that the grandkids still use. He built his big garage and the original decks, and anything else that was ever needed. He was always the one who looked after the pool they had when the girls were teenagers, and when he took it down, he tilled up the huge 18 foot round gravel area for the grandkids to have a sandbox. He made a zipline through the trees for them too.

He always bought things in multiples of two, from grocery items to tools (got to have imperial and metric you know). He kept great care of all his tools and equipment, the vehicles and anything in the home that needed fixing. He was a Jack-of-All-Trades, earning him signs from his grandchildren saying “If Papa Can’t Fix It, We’re Screwed”. He liked to do his own work and would ask for advice, but rarely asked for help do it. Herb loved watching movies, mostly action and war movies, and bought hundreds of them to see over and over again. He used to say that computers had evil spirits in them, that is, until he discovered Kijiji and Amazon, and most recently Marketplace and YouTube how-to videos. Once he learned how to use the computer, he spent hours online, watching news casts, listening to stories and seeing what was for sale.

Herb was also an animal lover, well, more particularly a dog lover, with Boots, Coco and Pepsi being the ones that were with them the longest. He tolerated the cats Cookie, Shadow (who he nicknamed Salem) and Boots. He always said he didn’t like cats, but he was the one they stayed near, usually sleeping on the couch beside him or on the back of the couch by his head. Herb also liked to feed the crows leftovers, and would throw stuff off the deck and then go “Caw-Caw, Caw-Caw” to let them know supper was served, and they’d fly down and carry it off, giving him great satisfaction.

Herb took very good care of his wife Kathy who acknowledges how spoiled she was. Herb did 99% of the cooking, and was well known by family and friends for his HUGE hamburgers that you pretty well had to cut in half to fit into your mouth, and were always cooked all the way through. He’d take her for day trips, often along the Sunrise Trail to River John/Tatamagouche way, other times out Merigomish way. Once a year they’d take a day trip to Cape Breton to visit his brother Kevin and wife Alice, and Kathy’s friend Sue, and  overnight trips to PEI and Woodstock, NB – Herb liked to sleep in his own bed. He loved to take Kathy out on the trails on the side-by-side which he named Big Blue, and his latest ATV called Little Blue, always taking his time over the bumps so not to jolt the bones or damage the machines. Herb also had an extremely good memory – when he learned something or somebody said something, he never forgot. Kathy could never win an argument with a mind like that!

He loved to meet up with his friends in the early mornings for coffee at Tim Hortons in Pictou and always greeted everybody with “Happy Monday” or whatever day it was! He was a good neighbour and friend, always there when people needed him to help out, or just to shoot the breeze, and give and get advice.

Things were mostly done on “Herb time” and he liked to tell jokes or repeat quotes and lyrics with his own twist. In recent years he loved flying his drone all over the neighbourhood and beyond whenever they went on a trip, and then sending pictures to friends and family of their properties. Over the years he had different sizes of boats, the most memorable one was called “Bad News”, and he loved to take the family out on the water from Pictou to Pictou Island and the Merb. His happy place was anywhere he could fish when he got the chance, especially casting his line off the coastline along the Northumberland shore.    

Most of all, Herb loved his family and was always there for them, whether to lend a hand, give sage advice and his strong opinion on things, or just to spend time with them. Herb loved getting phone and video calls from his girls and grandkids, which was done a LOT. He especially loved getting their big hugs and was interested in how they were doing, and of course spent time worrying about them all at one time or another as parents/grandparents do. Herb was known as “Grampie” to the two oldest grandkids, and “Papa” by the others. It was a running joke to pretend to be surprised every year at Christmas time when everyone received warm thick winter socks from him. He was deeply loved by them all and the feeling was mutual, with Herb always saying “Love You Today” or signing notes LYT. He was so proud of them all and always wanted the best for each one of them.

Herb leaves behind to grieve the huge absence in their lives, his wife Kathryn (Kathy) Mattatall (Lawson) of 45 ½ years, who he referred to as “My Bride” – they met when Herb was 15 and Kathy was 16, dated for 8 years and got married on Oct 11, 1980. They have three loving daughters, Ashley Mattatall (Eddie Lyons) of Hardwood Hill Road, Pictou County, NS and their children Jacob and Jersey Lawrence, Khloe Mattatall, Callie and Austin Lyons; Heather Mattatall (Jamie McLeod) of Widewater, Alberta and their daughter Madison McLeod; and Karen Mattatall (Jason Brown) of River John, NS and their children Jayden and Kayleigh Brown; his sister Wilma Conley (Joe Gordon) of Westville; brother Kevin Mattatall (Alice) of Howie’s Centre, Cape Breton; brother Ian Mattatall (Alice) of Drumheller, Alberta; brother Art Mattatall (Lynn) of Westville; and cousin Gary Mattatall (Helen) of Westville of whom he was close with, along with their families, all his friends and everyone who knew him. Herb left an impression on everyone he met.

Herb was predeceased by his parents Charles and Eva Mattatall, his sister Sandra Pucknell, brother Aubrey Mattatall, infant sister Gloria Mattatall, and mother and father in-law Murray and Helen Lawson.

The family would like to thank Dr. Sue Robinson of Halifax and her staff for their care during his cancer journey. They would rush tests through and gave details of treatments while giving hope and confidence that everything would be fine. They also want to thank the nurses on 8A and 8B of the Centennial Building who Herb said were so nice to him during his last week, and made him feel at ease during a difficult time. When talking to one of his nurses, they found out Herb made quite an impression on them too, as he liked to talk and tease. They also want to thank Emma McKellar, his nurse practitioner in Tatamagouche who first discovered his CLL through regular bloodwork back in July 2023 which made him able to be treated quickly and be with them for as long as he was, and make so many more memories.

Herb is under the care of Eagles Funeral Home in Westville, NS and has been cremated as per his wishes. The family would like to thank them for their respect, advice and warmth during this heartbreaking time.  Visitation will be held on Friday, April 24th from 11:00am - 1:00pm, with Funeral Service to follow at 1:00 pm from Eagles Funeral Chapel, with Pastor Kevin Mattatall officiating.

 Love You Today…and Forever