Louis (Pete) Pietrandrea, longtime resident of Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania as well as Mills River, North Carolina transcended this life on October 2 after a brief illness.
Born in Greensburg Pennsylvania on March 15th, 1927 to Dominic Pietrandrea and Mary Rause (Rauso). Pete was a graduate of Greensburg High School. He joined the Army Air Force at age 18 serving in Special Services from 1944 to 1947. Pete attended Penn State University in State College and graduated from the Pennsylvania State College of Optometry in Philadelphia. He met Sally Jane Grant of Sunbury PA while they were both students in Philadelphia and the couple enjoyed a happy, loving marriage of 63 years before Sally’s death in August of 2015.
“Dr. Pete” began his practice in Mifflinburg Pa in 1954. He enjoyed a deeply satisfying and successful career of 40 years before retiring to his beloved garden, local “Little Theater” participation, Bucknell University Cap and Dagger theater productions, trout fishing, Ham radio operations (WB-3-IPS now a silent key) and many East coast golf courses. Blazing new horizons in planes, trains, automobiles as well as loaded mule trek with Sally (and their dear friends from Mifflinburg) Pete constantly mapped out new destinations. “The gang” traversed the world and, in later years, Pete enjoyed PBS’s Rick Steve’s “Destinations” after dinner until just last week.
Pete and Sally moved from Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania to Mills River North Carolina in the mid-2000s and enjoyed vibrant, active, golden years through involvement with local theater groups and starring roles in readings and productions throughout the area via the Hendersonville Little Theater as well as the Autumn Players of Asheville Theater.
Pete was a masterful story teller, invariably surrounded by children, adults, strangers and audiences. He remembered life stories in detail and could correlate and repeat tales in an instant. From the concrete ship which took him to Europe as a young soldier, to the square wheeled train (absolutely true), to the children of a cousin mistakenly calling them “Uncle Meat and Aunt Salad” in perpetuity, Pete had a story for everything. His kindness overflowed in recognition and attention to anyone who appeared burdened or in need. He never ever spoke of charity, he just did it and stepped back into anonymity. Pete was a curious seeker of answers; be it through complex equation, building a realistic playhouse for his daughters or a back-pocket fix for a broken radio handle, he had the answer. He learned how to use a computer at age 76 and became an inveterate EBay seller (with award plaque and gold seal) at age 78. An admirable “everyman” with a heart of gold and strong conviction in the value of respect and decency of all human beings. 2020 is vision excellence. Pete strove to provide all his patients with this ideal. “Vision(ary) excellence”, a supreme mark of idealism and noble thought…he was born with this. The year 2020 is fitting usher to transcendence of his remarkable existence on our planet.
Pete is survived by a loving and utterly devoted family of two daughters Christine Pietrandrea of Lexington, Kentucky and Nancy Scheewe of Mills River North Carolina, six grandchildren Brian Scheewe (Maggie), Jason Scheewe (Karen), Kristin Tui (Mike), Megan Johnston (Ramsey), Karen Scheewe, Amanda Guerra (Nick) and 14 great grandchildren.
Family memorial service will be determined at a later date.
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