Longtime Donora mayor also lifted people up
Longtime Donora mayor John “Chummy” Lignelli, who dedicated decades to his Mon Valley community, died Thursday evening of congestive heart failure at Monongahela Valley Hospital in Carroll Township. He was 95.
Born in Manown, Mr. Lignelli attended Monongahela High School before joining the Navy during World War II. After the war, he returned to Western Pennsylvania to work in a steel mill. He was a member of the Donora Fire Department for 50 years. He made his mark as a longtime Donora councilman and mayor, contributing in ways that ranged from erecting buildings to lifting people.
“People have asked me about my dad’s legacy,” said his son, Frank Lignelli. “My dad has the high-rise senior center named after him. There’s a pavilion in Palmer Park that has his name on it. He was instrumental in getting the library built and it was just named for him. But that’s not his legacy. Those are accomplishments, monuments to him. But my dad’s legacy was written every day and it was simple. He helped anybody and everybody.
“There are so many stories that I hear. ‘Your dad got me my job at the park.’ ‘Your dad got me my job at Washington County Housing.’ Just time and time again.”
For years, Mr. Lignelli was chairman of the Washington County Housing Authority, when he battled to build a 42-unit senior citizen high-rise at the site of the old Monongahela Valley Hospital. When the Chess Street facility was dedicated in 2002, early in Mr. Lignelli’s time as Donora’s mayor, it was named John Lignelli Manor Senior Apartments.
Mr. Lignelli was elected mayor in 1994 and was serving his sixth consecutive term when he stepped down in 2014 due to health concerns. His son said one of the keys to his father’s success as a politician was that “he would listen.”
“He never thought he knew it all. His goal was always to work together for the betterment of this town. Period. I’m sure people disagreed with him at times, but he would work it out.”
Mr. Lignelli was preceded in death by two wives, Mildred Midge Ostovich, who died in 1993, and Patricia Enright Lignelli in 2006. Survivors include three brothers, Lou Lignelli and Merico Lignelli, both of Monongahela, and Frank Lignelli of Clarion; son Frank Lignelli of Olney, Md.; stepson Michael Enright of Carroll Township; stepdaughter Colleen Gibson of Monessen; five grandchildren; four stepgrandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
Visitation is 7-9 p.m. Tuesday and 2-9 p.m. Wednesday at Anthony L. Massafra Funeral Home in Donora. A funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at Our Lady of the Valley Church.