Obituary of Robert Best

Robert A. Best was the youngest of 3 children, born in 1924 in Washington State. He grew up in the town of Montesano, earned his athletic letters in basketball, football, and baseball, and joined the Navy in 1941 after graduating from High School. He served on a Destroyer Escort, the USS Seid, and saw service in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. He went to the University of Washington, graduating in 1948, with a degree in business. Bob met Patti (Clark) Mustard, a Kirk, Colorado girl and a war widow with a boy, Jim Best of Boulder, Colorado, at the farm of a friend of his, and married her in 1947. He and Patti had 2 daughters, Sue Carnathan of Billings, Montana, and Judy Wall of Tulsa, Oklahoma. They moved to Denver where he found work at a shipping company, then in 1953 they moved to Stratton, Colorado, where he joined Patti’s two brothers, Gene and John at the First National Bank. He became a partner to the bank and the Clark Insurance Agency later. He and Gene sold the bank in 1981 and they retired. Patti died in 1982. Bob, in 1983 married a Stratton girl, Serena (Selenke) Simon and he added her 9 children to his clan. He was a member and supporter of the American Legion, served on the Stratton school board, was a charter member of the Stratton Golf Club and a long-time supporter of the University of Washington Huskies. He was a member of the Stratton United Methodist Church. Bob is survived by his wife, Serena Best, their 12 children, Jim Best, Sue Carnathan, Judy Wall, Ellen Nielson, Patti Jones, David Simon, Louise Mills, Barbara Rueb, Janice Pautler, Ted Simon, Ann Hedges, and Karen May, as well as 10 sons and daughters-in-law, 27 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren. He passed at home in Stratton peacefully, surrounded by family on November 7, 2014 at the age of 90.