Fred Piazza, age 86, passed away on, August 17, 2022

PIAZZA—Fred Piazza, age 86, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, at home with his wife Deanna (Dee) and his dog at his side.

He was born and raised in Erie, Penn. From 1953-54, he served with the Army in the 1st French Indochina War as an encryptor at a station in Alaska. From 1954-56, he was in the Special Forces aboard the second USS Gudgeon tango-class submarine (SS-567) with the Underwater Demolition Team (UDT), preceding the SEALS.

After the military, Fred moved to Kansas City, which became home for many years. For a few years, he raced SCCA for Porche and BMW before “settling down” into the medical field for his final line of work. He became a respiratory (inhalation) therapist; then went on to become a cardiology PA and a certified cardiac perfusionist for open heart surgery.

The Operating Room is where Fred met Dee, where they were working together on the Open Heart Team at KU Med Center in Kansas City, Kansas. They were married in 1979.

In 1981, Fred and Dee moved to the Los Angeles area. Eventually, they migrated up the coast, living in Bakersfield and then Springville, Calif., until arriving in Florence, Ore., in 2014.

The sport of trapshooting with the American Trapshooting Association (ATA) became Fred’s hobby and passion after watching the Olympic shooting events in Los Angeles in 1984. He immediately dove into the competitive sport; and won many regional and California state championships over the next 20 years.

Fred was also an Elks member since joining in Simi Valley, Calif., in 2004.

Fred is survived by his wife as well as his sister and one surviving daughter from a previous marriage, who both live in Pennsylvania.

He will be dearly missed by friends and family, far and near, including those who have grown to know him here in Florence. No memorial service is planned. Burns’s Riverside Chapel Florence Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.