HUNTSVILLE, Texas (CNN) -- Just a half-hour before he was set to die, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of execution Thursday night for Joseph Stanley Faulder, a Canadian national facing a lethal injection for the 1975 murder of an elderly Texas oil matriarch.

"Far out. That suits me," a surprised and relieved Faulder said when prison officials told him about the stay, which will push his execution into at least 1999.

The former auto mechanic from Alberta also thanked the Canadian public and news media for focusing attention on his case.

"He wasn't dancing or anything like that, but he was obviously very happy," said Larry Fitzgerald, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Earlier in the day, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans had lifted a stay of execution granted Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, who questioned whether Faulder got a fair hearing from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles before it turned down his bid for clemency.

Texas officials then began preparing to put Faulder to death. But his attorneys appealed to the Supreme Court, which granted a stay "pending disposition of his petition," according to a court spokesman.

"I'm delighted he got the stay, but the last couple of days have been pretty hellish," said Faulder's attorney, Sandra Babcock.

Faulder, 61, would have been the first Canadian put to death in the United States since 1952. He has been on death row for 21 years.

Faulder was sentenced to death for beating and stabbing to death 75-year-old Inez Phillips at her home in Gladewater during a robbery in July 1975. A butcher knife was buried more than 6 inches in her chest, her arms were tied, and tape covered her mouth. She had numerous bruises and puncture wounds, and her skull was fractured.

Faulder, a native of Jasper, Alberta, had left Canada for the United States the winter before Phillips' murder. He was arrested nearly two years after the slaying, while under arrest on unrelated charges in Colorado.

At the time, he was carrying a Colorado driver's license, and police say they weren't aware he was a Canadian citizen. Officials in his native country didn't learn about his arrest for 15 years.

Faulder's attorney, death penalty opponents and the Canadian government contend that Canadian authorities should have been told of his arrest and detention under terms of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Under that treaty, Texas authorities should also have informed Faulder of his right to contact the Canadian government for help.

Last week U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright joined Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy in seeking a reprieve. But Texas Gov. George W. Bush was unmoved by the appeal.

"People can't just come in our state and cold-blood murder somebody," Bush said. "That's unacceptable behavior, regardless of their nationality."

Canada abolished the death penalty in 1976.

Reuters contributed to this report.