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Gretchen Piscotty, a longtime Pleasanton resident and former Foothill High School attendance secretary, died Sunday night after battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). She was 55.
Piscotty’s nearly year-long fight with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, gained national attention after her son Stephen, a Major League Baseball outfielder, was traded to the hometown Oakland Athletics last offseason — a move that allowed him to be closer to his ailing mother.
“Gretchen was a caring, compassionate person who really made friends with just about everybody. She created a real network of friends and support who helped carry us through her ALS journey,” Mike Piscotty, Gretchen’s longtime husband, told the Weekly. “She was a great, caring mother … and she will be greatly missed.”
Gretchen Piscotty was first diagnosed with ALS in May 2017, and her journey with the debilitating neurological disease — in light of Stephen’s prominence and the family’s openness — was chronicled at different times by Bay Area and nationwide news media, most recently via a video feature by ESPN days before her death.
“I really learned how tightly knit and woven the family was, and she was one of the main seamstresses of that,” Mike Piscotty said, reflecting on the past year. “We knew she just really had a lot of strength, and we really saw that as she progressed through the different stages of the disease.”
“That strength she had to keep as upbeat an outlook as possible throughout this was really important for us who were caring for her,” he added. “Even toward the end, when she couldn’t speak anymore, you could still get a goofy eyeroll when we did something funny.”
Born in Queens, N.Y., and raised in Albuquerque, Gretchen attended the University of New Mexico where she would meet her future husband Mike. The couple moved to Livermore soon after their wedding and later relocated to Pleasanton.
Gretchen Piscotty began working at Foothill as her sons approached high school age. She started as an office assistant in 2006 before transitioning to school secretary in 2013, a position she held until taking a leave in spring 2017 after her ALS diagnosis. She filed formal retirement papers earlier this spring.
“Ms. Piscotty was a beloved member of our Foothill staff who had a terrific sense of humor and worked tirelessly to support the school,” Foothill principal Sebastian Bull said. “She was a wonderful woman who raised an amazing family. Our hearts go out to her family and the many individuals whose lives were touched by Ms. Piscotty.”
The A’s also sent out their condolences Monday.
“The Athletics organization extends its deepest condolences to the Piscotty family on the loss of Gretchen,” Billy Beane, A’s executive vice president of baseball operations, said in a statement. “She was a devoted wife and mother, whose legacy will live on through her husband, Mike, and their sons Stephen, Austin and Nick.”
A’s manager Bob Melvin told the Palo Alto Weekly, “Obviously as an organization, certainly the players, we have heavy hearts for him. We know what he’s been going through. He’s been going through it for quite a while now. We really feel bad for him.”
He’s really close to his mom. He was with her (Sunday) night,” Melvin added. “There’s real life and then there’s what we do, which is basically the entertainment business. It’s a real-life situation that we all feel bad for.”
In addition to supporting her family and cheering her sons’ sports endeavors from the stands, Gretchen Piscotty’s personal passions included horses, quilting, crafting and her family cats, according to the obituary posted on the Weekly’s Lasting Memories page.
In addition to her husband and sons, Piscotty is survived by her mother Elke Mikaelian and brother Alex.
A reflection gathering for Piscotty will be held this Sunday (May 13) at Graham-Hitch Mortuary located at 4167 First St. in Pleasanton, beginning at 7 p.m. A celebration of life will follow on Monday (May 14) at 11 a.m. at Asbury United Methodist Church in Livermore.
The family is encouraging memorial contributions to the ALS Therapy Development Institute via youcaring.com/piscotty or www.als.net, or to Tri-Valley nonprofit Horses Healing Hearts at www.horseshealingheartsinc.org. The A’s have committed to matching up to $50,000 donated to the ALS institute.
“It’s Gretchen’s wish, that by being somewhat public about her affliction, to make it so that one day nobody else would have to face it, or maybe (doctors) could combat it better,” Mike Piscotty said.
Gretchen always had a smile on her face and was full of life. Her battle with ALS was courageous and her families love and support was honoring to her legacy as a loving Mother. Rest in peace in the Lord’s loving embrace Gretchen and my prayers for grace and healing to the Piscotty Family.