Frances Johnson Pietro

1924 - 2010

Frances Johnson Pietro, beloved, creative, free spirit, died Feb. 26, 2010 in Ojai.

She was born Dec. 7, 1924 to Joseph and Inez Rockwell Gruenthal in Oakland. She attended elementary school in Oakland, but during the Great Depression her parents bought a ranch in the Sacramento Valley and her education continued in Live Oak at Marysville Junior College and C.S.U. Chico.

As a young mother with a large family she began to attend art classes becoming an accomplished artist in many media but renown for her abstract expressionist pastel paintings. She was a founding member of the early group of Ojai artists who worked to organize and showcase their talent as the "Ojai 20." Frances received many awards including firsts at the California State Fair, 1971, and the Annual California National Watercolor Society exhibits, 1968 and 1970. Her work was chosen for the invitational exhibit "25 California Women Artists" at Lytton Center of Visual Arts in Los Angeles in 1968, when women were beginning to press for recognition. Her paintings have been purchased for many private, corporate and municipal fine arts collections, including Bank of A. Levy, Hallmark Fine Arts Collection, Atkinson Art Gallery at Santa Barbara City College, the City of Ojai and the City of Ventura Municipal Art Collection. She served as curator of exhibits and twice as interim director at the Museum of Ventura County from 1979 - 1989.

Frances was predeceased by her parents; husband, Salvatore Pietro; sister, Marilyn Peterson; granddaughter, Hannah Power; ex-husband, Donald E. Power.

She is survived by her children, Claudia Power Harris (Wyatt), Richard Power, Stephen Power, Paula Power, Johanna Johnson and Sarah Johnson-Dubler (Douglas); grandchildren, Anna, Erica and Rebecca Harris, Emily Stephen and Rachel Power, Rosalie and Thomas Schubert, Marcel Doane; great-grandchildren, Wilhelmina Bless, Kestra, Annika and Daniel Engstrom, Biggs Doane; brothers, Joseph and William Gruenthal; fellow artist and ex-husband, Wesley Johnson; many loving nieces, nephews and friends.

The family is grateful to the Mogas at Casa Bella in Ojai for the loving home they provided in her final year, and to Livingston Memorial Hospice for their excellent care in her last days. We will all forever miss and be inspired by her incredible joie de vivre.

Arrangements are by Coast Cities Cremations, Ventura.