Jean Lucile Musto

Jean Lucile Musto died July 10 in Fallbrook. She died peacefully in her own home. Jean was born December 10, 1924 on a farm in Talma, Ind. to a family descended from Indiana settlers. She was a true Indiana native who relocated to Fallbrook, Calif. in 2010, with her husband John of 70 years, to be with her family in California and live near her son Michael and his wife, Victoria, who are presently residents of Fallbrook.

She had a mostly quiet personality, and youthful style, punctuated by moments of laughter and pure playfulness, and some spit-fire antics. Her most cherished accomplishment was raising her two children in two separate lifetimes. Her two children who both survive her, son Michael and daughter Tina, were born 20 years apart.

She raised her son when she and John were both teenagers, during a post-depression World War II era. Jean essentially raised her son by herself, since John was away serving in the U.S. Navy during the war. She worked in factories including Ball Band in South Bend, at a time when factory jobs were plentiful in the Mid-West, and where she contributed to the war efforts working on materials for the war.

Twenty years later, life was enormously different for Jean and John. They moved to Fort Wayne, Ind. where she worked in another tough factory job, on-the-line, at Farnsworth making televisions and radios. She was a proud model worker distinguished by Farnsworth for the quality of her work on the circuit boards they meticulously produced.

When John started working at IBM, Jean no longer had to work. It was not long after that she gave birth to her daughter, Tina. It was now the time of the Vietnam War, however John did not have to serve. Michael, now at age 19, was away in college.

It was during this time that Jean took up home-making, including developing a love for interior decorating. She did everything around the home. She became a home-maker perfectionist which included much painting, inside and out, furniture restoration, which she was very good at, landscaping, and even some electrical work and plumbing.

She was very involved in Tina’s life including serving as a Girl Scout leader who was much loved by the girls for her playful ways, and easy laughter.

She also loved spending time with her immediate family, particularly, her sister Karen in West Lafayette, Ind., who survives her, and other sisters, Kathleen, and Mary, and their families. She also had one brother Donald. All were from the South Bend, Ind. area.

Her favorite hobbies, second only to eating out, was shopping and decorating her home. Jean was well-known and well-liked by the crew and service providers at her assisted living apartment complex, Silvergate, in Fallbrook. She was known for her youthful blue-jeans, tennies, and sun glass wearing style, as well as her immaculately kept home.

Jean, at her passing, was a sister, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Along with W. Michael Musto and Victoria Musto, she is also survived by their children, Todd C. Musto; Tracy Foote and her children McKenna and Kian; and Rhonda Lee and her children Paula, Lyle, Lexy and Lacy. Her daughter Tina Musto and partner Jill Nakano, live in Long Beach, Calif.

After a brief showing at Berry-Bell and Hall, July 14, she was laid to rest in Peru, Ind., at the Mount Hope Cemetery. She was reunited with her husband John, to whom she was immensely connected, passing three years apart, but both at 92, in July, just weeks apart.