Francis Joseph Piatz of Mt. Angel, Oregon, died Tuesday February 27, 2024, at the age of 89. He was born at home in the small town of Napoleon, North Dakota on June 7,1934, to Joseph and Rose (Gross) Piatz. Francis was the middle child in between two sisters. The family moved to Mt. Angel when he was 2 years old.
Mt. Angel was home. Except for his four years in college and his first teaching job, Francis lived the rest of his life in Mt. Angel. It's where he made numerous life-long friends and a lasting impact on the community.
Francis attended St. Mary's Grade School, the same school he would one day return to as a teacher. After graduating from the eighth grade, his high school years were spent at Mt. Angel Prep at the Abbey. He was schooled by the Benedictine monks and excelled in sports, particularly basketball and baseball. He also played football as a senior, probably one of the smallest quarterbacks around. It's no surprise he was the sports editor of both the school newspaper and annual. It was also during that time he picked up the nickname, Cisco, something that stuck to this very day.
After graduating from the Prep in 1952, it was off to Seattle University to pursue a teaching degree. He graduated from Seattle U. in 1956 and got his first teaching job that same year in Firwood, Washington, where he also started coaching. After two years, he returned to Mt. Angel to begin a 36-year teaching career and a 40-year coaching career. Through teaching and coaching he left his mark on thousands of young people. Mr. Piatz was known as a sharp, fair, wise, and empathetic teacher. But he also didn't tolerate too much nonsense. That's where his razor-sharp aim with an eraser came in. But it all came with an amazing sense of humor, quick wit and unending stories.
Mr. Piatz, Coach Piatz, the two are interchangeable.
When he returned to Mt. Angel in 1958 to begin teaching 7th grade, he took on dual coaching roles, cub baseball coach for the city and 7th grade boys basketball coach. To this day he could tell you who was on the teams and who was in his first class. His memory was phenomenal. In the mid-1970s, he started the 8th grade girls basketball program and over the years coached all three of his daughters. They were schooled by dad in the classroom as well.
In 1962, Francis started an event that was the highlight of every spring school year: Field Day. A fun-filled day of all kinds of athletic events for children of every grade: softball pitch, baseball throw, high jump, shuttle races and more. He came up with an elaborate formula of height, weight, age to put each student in grades 1-8 in a class: PeeWee up to 4th class and make it as fair as possible to each child.
Along the way he ran an intramural basketball program for grades 6-8, served as middle/elementary school athletic director and started the elementary school track program. He coached the Kennedy girls varsity basketball team from 1984-1986 and led the Kennedy girls JV basketball team to an undefeated season in 1987. Even after he officially retired from teaching in1994, he didn't retire from being involved. He substituted for many years and continued to coach 8th grade boys basketball and run intramurals.
Francis also became known far and wide as an outstanding starter at high school track meets. He did that for 30 years and was often called upon to serve as a starter at district meets.
Francis kept time and score for Kennedy boys basketball games for years, as well as keeping time at the high school football games for decades. There wasn't much he couldn't or didn't do when it came to athletics.
His more than 50 years of continued service to the community and school earned him official recognition. He was a member of the inaugural class of inductees into the Mt. Angel Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012 and was named Oregon High School Coaches Association Jr./Mid-High Coach of the Year in 1993.
Francis couldn't have done all of this without a supportive wife by his side. Francis married Mt. Angel native Carol Wachter in St. Mary Catholic Church on June 24, 1961. But he would tell you their love story started years earlier. He was in the second grade and she was in the first, and they passed each other on a path leading to the school grounds. He remembers her saying, "I'm going to marry you some day". She didn't remember it, but when Francis recounted it during the celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary, he said, "a man doesn't forget those things".
Francis and Carol lived lives of faith and service to the Catholic church and the community. He served as an altar boy (and still remembered his altar boy Latin), a lector and most recently as a Eucharistic minister. He was a regular daily Mass attendee until his health took a turn just over a year ago. Saying more than one rosary a day was part of his routine for years.
Francis received a Master's Degree in Education from Oregon State University in 1965. He also served on the Mt. Angel Library Board for 12 years in the 60s and 70s and the Mt. Angel Planning Commission for more than two years in the mid-1990s.
Francis loved to read, do crossword puzzles, attend sporting events of all kinds, and Notre Dame. He and Carol would frequently travel to Nashville for extended stays that included the births of all five Tennessee grandchildren, sporting events, graduations, Grandparents' Days and more. They were almost as well-known in those school and church communities as they were in Mt. Angel.
Francis is preceded in death by his beloved wife Carol of 54 years in February 2016, his parents, and sisters Leonora Beyer and Marilyn Seiler. He is survived by daughters, Judy (Steve) Carbone of Indianapolis, Carolyn (Terry) Connolly of Tigard and Ruth (Philip) Wehby of Nashville. He is also survived by his six adored grandchildren: Sarah, Abigail, Joseph, Maggie and Rachael Wehby, and Mary Grace Connolly. Also surviving are brother-in-law Fritz Beyer of Salem, sister-in-law Judith Lujan of San Francisco, nieces, nephews and extended family.
There will be a rosary for Francis on Monday, March 4th at 7pm at St. Mary Catholic Church. The funeral is Tuesday, March 5th at 11am at the church, with burial immediately following at Calvary Cemetery. Memorial donations can be made to St. Mary Catholic Church or the Francis and Carol Piatz Scholarship to benefit the future education of a graduating senior at John F. Kennedy High School. Arrangements by Unger Funeral Chapel in Mt. Angel.