Former Duarte High School Graduate/Businessman Joey Paul Lopez Dies in Motorcycle Race Crash

Community members, among them many Duarte school officials, teachers and former classmates, are mourning the tragic death of Joey Paul Lopez, a 1994 Duarte High School graduate. Lopez, 32, was killed in a motorcycle crash on Sunday, Jan. 4 while competing in a sanctioned race at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. He died after his motorcycle struck an air-soft wall, an air-filled nylon safety barrier used during races.

While he loved racing and been active in the sport for more than 10 years, his vocation and first love was computer technology, according to his longtime friend and former high school principal Al Scalise.

“He was always strong in computers from the time he was in high school. When the school district was first changing over to computers, lots of administrators and teachers would call him if they had a problem,” said Scalise, now a district educational consultant. “Joey was an all-around very good student, played football and was the captain of the wrestling team,” he said.

After high school, Lopez and his brother George opened a computer store in Duarte and served as computer consultants to the school district. In recent years, Joey worked in networking and IT consulting throughout the Southern California area, said Scalise.

“We were very close,” said Scalise. He was one of the pallbearers at my mother’s funeral. When we last talked, Joey said he was looking forward to his 15-year high school reunion coming up this year.”

Lopez and his wife Debbie are the parents of three children and had recently learned that another child is on the way. His mother, Martha Lopez is an instructional aid at Maxwell School in Duarte where the young Joey Lopez and his four brothers and sister also attended.

The family is in the process of setting up an account at Wells Fargo Bank for anyone interested in contributing a donation in his memory.

Funeral arrangements have been made at Forest Lawn, Covina, with the viewing set for Sunday, Jan. 11 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Services will be held at Calvary Chapel, Diamond Bar on Monday, Jan. 12, at 11 a.m. with burial to follow at Forest Lawn.

For more information, contact Mary Gonzalez at Maxwell School at (626) 599-5301.