Orange County FlArchives Obituaries.....Mastrapa, Arthur Stacey June 16, 2004
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William Morgan wsmorganv@aol.com July 9, 2008, 5:09 pm

Orlando Sentinel, 18 June 2004
Stacey Mastrapa: Family extols Apopka man killed in iraq
by Amy C. Rippel, Sentinel Staff Writer 

All Stacey Mastrapa wanted to do was surprise his dad for Father's Day.

After three months at Fort Stewart, Ga., and 13 more months in Iraq, Mastrapa, 
an Army reservist who lived in Apopka, was supposed to be coming home today for 
the grand surprise for his father.

Instead, his family in Apopka and throughout Central Florida is grieving his 
death.

Mastrapa, 35, a sergeant with the military police, died Tuesday when a rocket 
slammed into a U.S. logistics base near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad. Two 
other soldiers died, and 25 people were injured.

Family members said Mastrapa was a loving family man who cherished the time he 
spent with his wife, Jennifer, their two children and his large extended family 
throughout Central Florida.

The surprise homecoming was just another example of what a kind and thoughtful 
person he was, his family said.

"He wanted to surprise me for Father's Day. We know he was in a barracks when 
he was hit," his father Arthur Mastrapa, 61, said Thursday night. "He was a joy 
to have around -- a very good, happy person."

A graduate of Forest Lake Academy and the oldest of three siblings, Mastrapa 
joined the Army shortly after graduation and served as a member of the military 
police, first in Alabama and then in Germany.

Once out of the Army, he wanted to continue working for the government, so he 
became a postal carrier, working in Altamonte Springs. He also joined the Army 
Reserves.

"He liked being in the military," his brother Mark Mastrapa, 32, said in a 
telephone interview. "He really loved serving his country."

Cousin Yvette Carrillo, 35, said the Mastrapa family is huge, with relatives in 
Cuba, Miami, Michigan, Australia and Central Florida. Even with such a big 
family, Stacey Mastrapa always shone as a positive, tenderhearted and sincere 
person, she said.

"There was nothing negative about him," Carrillo said.

Mastrapa and his wife of nine years had two children: Marisa, 8, and Reece, 20 
months.

His family, too distraught Thursday night to speak about the details of 
Mastrapa's life, wrote a brief statement about him.

Family members said he loved his family above all and was dedicated to his 
country.

"He dedicated his life to public service, first in active duty as a military 
police officer, then as a postal worker and finally as a Reserve MP," sister-in-
law Tracey Mastrapa, 30, wrote in an e-mail.

"He was called to serve his country, which he did proudly with the utmost 
integrity."

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