Obituary of Vincent P. Mustacich

Vincent was born in Bellingham, WA on Nov. 8, 1921, the youngest of five children born to Visko and Katina Mustacich. He graduated from Bellingham High School magna cum laude in the class of 1940. He studied Business Management and Administration from a trade school and later university courses in higher accountancy. In the Army he worked up to battalion postmaster. Out of the service he was hired by the Bellingham Post Office. He worked up from the city carrier to clerk, to finance clerk and on to become the Civil Service Examiner-in-Charge for Whatcom, Skagit and Island Counties. For the rest of his 38 year postal career he held that position along with being the personnel manager and passport agent for the Department of State. About 1960 he also took on responsibility as the CEO of the City of Bellingham Employee’s Credit Union, which was struggling to stay in business. He successfully reversed the situation and was always very proud of his accomplishments there. That credit union is now the North Coast Credit Union on Dupont Street with assets of around 200 million. Vince retired in 1982 from the postal service and he and his wife, Roberta, moved to Santa Barbara in 1984 to be near their son Robert and his family. He worked in the security department at Raytheon from 1984 to 1995. Vince was a lifetime member of the Knights of Columbus. After losing his wife, Roberta, Vince moved to Vista del Monte Retirement Home where he lived happily for more than 10 years, making many wonderful friends. Vince died peacefully of pneumonia at Cottage Hospital, surrounded by his family. He leaves to survive him two sons, six grandsons and numerous nieces and nephews. There will be a vigil at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 16 at McDermott Crockett Mortuary. The funeral mass will be at St. Raphael’s Catholic Church on Friday, Aug. 17 and 10 a.m.