Planning and Zoning Commissioner Steven R. Mullins has sent a lett er to Village Improvement Association President Patrick Galvin requesting that the future Allingtown Library be renamed. The VIA is the governing board of all West Haven Public Libraries.
In his letter, Mullins stated, “Although the Louis Piantino Library in Allingtown is now closed and is currently looking for a new home, it is my hope that when it is dedicated; Allingtown’s new library be renamed the “Albert and Loretta Forte Memorial Library.”
Albert E. Forte; served as Town & City Clerk from 1973 – 1981. He died in 1992. He was married to the former Loretta Bon Tempo Forte, a librarian in Allingtown. Together, they had one daughter, Valerie Forte. Mrs. Forte died in October 2005.
In addition to serving as City Clerk, Mr. Forte was active in numerous activities in the borough, town and finally city of West Haven. He was a very influential member of the Village Improvement Association. The elevator at the Main Library on Elm Street is named after him.
“Mr. Forte was a longtime member of the Allingtown Volunteer Fire Association and was instrumental in the racial integration of the Association. He was also an environmentalist long before it became fashionable.” said Mullins, who delivered the New Haven Register newspaper to the Forte’s in the 1980’s.
Albert Forte was a veteran of the United States Navy and served in the Second World War. He was a part of many veterans’ organizations in West Haven.
A tree planted outside of current Town & City Clerk Patricia Horvath’s Office was dedicated to Albert Forte by Mullins and then-Mayor John Picard in 2013 to commemorate the 21st anniversary of his death.