Date of death: 11/28/2020
Saint Meinrad Class: O 1970
John Mistrik, a longtime Lakeside resident, died Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020, at his home.
John was born in July, 1944, in an immigrant family from Czechoslovakia, and lived in Tarentum, attending Catholic grade school. After that, he was educated by Benedictine monks at St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana for five years. He spent three years with the Army Security Agency, most of the time in Ankara, Turkey. Following his honorable discharge, he received his degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and in 1969 went to work with Bell Telephone Laboratories, in New Jersey. He spent the next 30 years working for “corporate America”: Bell Labs, AT&T, and finally Lucent Technologies, retiring in 1999. As a young man, he was very active in community affairs and very involved with the Jaycees, being president of several chapters in New Jersey and New Hampshire. He received an Outstanding Young Men of America award in 1975.
He and his wife, Dee, moved to the Raquet Club in 2000 and they became very involved in Lakeside activities. He served as treasurer of the Raquet Club fraccionamiento for 12 years, was senior warden in St. Andrew’s Church for several years, a member of the Masonic Lodge and the lake Chapala Shrine Club. He also helped in establishing Abbeyfield in Ajijic, setting up the soccer league in San Juan Cosala, and was involved in Operation Feed since 2001. He enjoyed traveling, visiting 64 different countries over the past 20 years with his favorite travel companion, Dee.
John is survived by three daughters from his first wife, Joyce, (Wendy in Pennsylvania, Laura and Christy, in Virginia) and three stepchildren from his last wife, Dee, (Christina in Wisconsin, Mike and Eric in Illinois); 17 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter together with two sisters, Dolly and MaryAnn, in Pennsylvania. Over the past several years, John had decommissioned himself from responsible jobs but he was always there if anyone needed any help on anything.