Aleita Huguenin Obituary

Teacher, Democrat, Punster, Mentor to thousands, Wife, Mother, Grandmother and Dearest of Friends

Aleita Huguenin was many things throughout her 77 Years and she'll be remembered for all of them - through her teaching, her mentoring, her Democratic activism and her love of theater and friends. No one whose life she touched will ever forget her.

In the late 1960s, Aleita Huguenin, the daughter of two teachers from the Four Corners - Curtis King and Althea Koppenhafer - moved with her family to Walnut Creek California.There, she graduated from San Francisco State and then taught elementary and middle school in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District in Concord, California. In August 1968, Aleita married Kern Hildebrand (later divorced) and in September 1973 she gave birth to her son, Derek Joel Hildebrand.

During the 1970's, Aleita became active in her union as their local union President. She also became active in the California Democratic Party., In 1976, Aleita attended her first Democratic convention supporting then candidate, Jimmy Carter.

In 1983, Aleita married Eugene Huguenin, an attorney employed by CTA.

In January 1986, Aleita joined the staff of CTA. In this role she helped found the California Teachers Summer Institute - a training ground for political campaigns that ultimately trained thousands of teachers throughout California. She retired from CTA in 2007, but continued her work in the Democratic Party.

Few people have visited in the White Houses' of all the Democratic Presidents from Jimmy Carter through Barak Obama but Aleita knew them all; not because she was a big donor - but because she was the hardest of workers, the greatest of grassroots organizers,, and an unmatched campaign leader throughout California and the nation. Throughout her more than 40 years as a Democratic activist, Aleita served her party - and her country -- with an unwavering sense of justice, fairness, women's rights and equality.

To know Aleita in every one of these endeavors meant meant you laughed a lot. She was consummate lover of language and her ability to engage in endless and hysterical puns and tricks of language was legend. Aleita also loved the theater - especially musicals. One of her most beloved was "WICKED" which, in the end, is a story of both politics and friendship - two of her greatest loves. The haunting duet 'Changed' ends with this refrain: "I don't know if I've been changed for the better - but I have been changed for good." Everyone who ever knew Aleita Huguenin was forever changed for good.

Aleita was also a loving wife, mother and a grandmother. She took great joy in her family, spending holidays and vacation visits with them whenever possible - including frequent trips to Colorado. She is survived by her brother Loren King and his wife Nancy Rossi King, of Salinas, CA; by her son Derek Hildebrand and his two daughters, Mya and Ella Hildebrand, of Loomis, CA; her nephew Christopher King and his family of Verbania, Italy; her stepson Jason Huguenin and his family of Mukilteo, Washington; and by her husband Eugene Huguenin of Rancho Murieta.

A celebration of her life will be held in the Spring in Sacramento, CA. If you wish, please make any gifts in remembrance to your local Alzheimer's Association.