US Navy veteran, hospital executive, tennis, music lover

Former Claremont resident Albert Lee Piette died at his home in Santa Rosa, California on February 16.

He was born July 16, 1933 in Los Angeles to parents Harrison and Elaine Piette, and was one of nine children. The family moved to Baldwin Park in 1940. After attending Covina High School, he enlisted in the US Navy, serving in the Korean War from 1951 to 1955 aboard the USS Talladega. 

He married Judith (Jewart) in 1954 and the couple had five children. The family moved to Claremont in 1959, where he worked at the US Post Office. He attended Chaffey College in the evenings, earning his associate’s degree, and transferred to Cal Poly Pomona, graduating in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.

He worked as the controller of Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina for 11 years and later as controller at South Bay Hospital in Redondo Beach.

Mr. Piette and his current wife, Debbie (Johnson), relocated to Novato, in Marin County, California, and he worked for San Francisco’s Marshal Hale Hospital. They later relocated to Santa Rosa, where he retired to Spring Lake Village.

He was an avid tennis player, a music lover—especially of Dixieland Jazz—and played the trombone. He was an active member of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Claremont, and was past president of the Health Financial Management Association’s Southern California chapter.

He is survived by his wife Debbie; his first wife, Judy; children Michael (Melanie), Joseph, Shannon La Franchi (Bill), Patrick (Mary Ann) and Juliana Koffman (Reggie); grandchildren Hannah, Jonathan, Marlee, Lindsay, Grace, Sofia and Sebastien; and siblings Mark, Carol Stark, Suzanne and John.