Former Falmouth entrepreneur Rudolph Knute Matland, 87, died August 7, 2020, at Cape Coral Hospital in Florida following a brief battle with COVID-19.
He was born on Nantucket to Rudolph B. Matland and Emily (Creasy) Matland.
His first job was delivering papers on Nantucket. With his earnings and some assistance from his father, he purchased a Beetle Cat. It was the start of a life-long love of sailing.
Mr. Matland graduated from Fairhaven High School in 1951.
He met Dawn Patricia Rainey, a Rainbow Girl, at a DeMolay dance. His DeMolay activities led him to a life of service with the Masons and Shriners. The couple married in 1954 and had been married for 31 years at the time of her death in 1985.
Mr. Matland served in the US Coast Guard based on Staten Island, New York, in 1954 and in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, until 1957. He later went fishing for a year on his father’s fishing boat out of New Bedford.
He studied business administration at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island, and attained a bachelor’s degree in accounting upon his 1958 graduation.
In Falmouth Mr. Matland worked for The Wood Lumber Co. as business manager/controller. He ventured into various businesses such as opening an A&W franchise in Teaticket, where he ran his own accounting office on the property; beach concessions at Old Silver Beach and New Silver Beach, and a seafood restaurant, The Viking Room.
As an active member of the United States Power Squadron, he enjoyed boating trips in his Chris Craft cabin cruiser with his family to Tarpaulin Cove, Cutty Hunk, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket and the Elizabeth Islands.
In the early 1980s, he opened Matland Accounting to serve the accounting needs of the shrimping industry in Fort Myers, Florida. Also in Fort Myers, he belonged to the Araba Shriners and is listed as an Araba Shrine Mariners Past Commodore from 2008. He served as a Mason and Shriner until his death.
He married Mary Jo Maunz Matland in 1989. She died in 2019.
He leaves two daughters, Janet Stockwell and Deryle Matland; a sister, Sharon Matland; his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and stepfamily members.
He was preceded in death by his daughter Pamela Jean Matland in 1965; and also by his son, Rudolph K. Matland Jr., in 2017.
He will be buried in a private family gathering in Falmouth.