Matt Pihl joined his brothers Chris and Pete, and obtained a job taking care of dairy cows in Dilley, Oregon.

Matt Pihl purchased acreage on Green Mountain, near the town of Manning, eventually amassing nearly 1,000 acres (400 ha) of forestland by the time his son Hollie had been born.

At this point, the Pihl family lived in St. Johns, Oregon, and used the Manning land for logging and had a small saw mill.

[1][better source needed] To continue to pay for his education and costs, Pihl worked for his father's trucking companies in Portland during the summers.

Soon after, Pihl began to discover his ambitions to serve the United States government rather than stay in the private sector.

In 1958, Pihl married Alice Morrow, a nurse whom he met on a blind date, in Portland, Oregon.

In 1962, the Pihls moved onto his tree farm in Manning, Oregon, and raised five children, all attending Banks High School.

His daughter Becky, a Deputy District Attorney in Washington County and her son participated in Scouting where she remains active to this day.