Etna mayor eschewed traditional role of a municipal leader
There isn’t a bridge, street or library in Etna named for Mayor Thomas “Tom” Rengers, but there probably should be.
Just four months into his appointment as mayor in September 2004, Hurricane Ivan hit the Pittsburgh area, dropping more than 6 inches of rain in a single day -- causing the worst flooding in a generation.
It was, as Mr. Rengers recalled in a February 2022 Post-Gazette story, a “Baptism by fire.”
“It really was a challenge,” he said.
In the small borough, which sits at the bottom of a massive watershed in the North Hills, more than 400 homes were flooded — representing about 25% of the population.
But Mr. Rengers wasn’t fazed. With some experience as the borough’s emergency management coordinator, he rolled up his sleeves and even enlisted his family in helping to clear the considerable damage.
As a fledgling mayor, he would go on to oversee the remediation and rebuilding of much of the borough, along with a multitude of flood mitigation projects in the nearly 20 years since, though the initial cleanupwent on for months.
“My house was one of the flooded houses in 2004 and he was so busy helping everyone that he sent one of his sons out here to help me,” recalled Dave Becki, who later became Etna council president. “He had a way of convincing people to do the right thing, and most of the reason people did it is because Tom made them feel good. He was grateful for the help and such a hard worker. He cared deeply for his community and his church,and it showed.”
Mr. Rengers died Dec. 7 of prostate cancer. He was 72.
He grew up in Shaler, graduating from Shaler High School in 1969. Shortly afterward, Mr. Rengers began a five-year apprenticeship as a steamfitter.
“Tom decided he was going to take the steamfitters test and he passed,” said his wife, Sandy Rengers. “He was a steamfitter with Local 499 all his life.”
Mr. Rengers spent most of his career at the Power Piping Co. in Etna, retiring at the age of 62.
In 1971, he met Sandy Miller at Slippery Rock University, though neither was a student. They married on Valentine’s Day 1976.
“We were visiting friends,” Mrs.Rengers recalled
Mr. Rengers had no experience in politics when he was appointed in 1993 to fill the unexpired term of a council member who resigned. In 2004, a dying Mayor William “Doc” Dougherty named Mr. Rengers as his successor.
“Mayor Dougherty was a much-loved man and he expressed a wish that Tom should replace him,” said Mary Ellen Ramage, longtime borough manager. “And, Tom was active from day one. He threw himself into everything.”
From the start, Mr. Rengers eschewed the traditional role of a mayor, Ms. Ramage said.
“In a borough, the mayor’s primary and sole duties are the day-to- day operations and oversight of the police department, but he was in the thick of everything,” she recalled. “He really wanted to make Etna a great place. He was behind everything we did. He was an apt emissary who would marshal forces to help. If you met him, you wouldn’tforget him.”
A founding member of the Etna Economic Development Corp., Mr. Rengers walked the walk when it came time to show up with the elbow grease,Ms. Ramage said.
“He was the first one at every community event we had and he was the last one to leave,” she said. “He did everything we did, from volunteer activities to community events. He never missed any of them. At our tree planting on the weekends he’d be smiling from ear to ear. He’d bring doughnuts, T-shirts -- and he brought enthusiasm. It’s been really hard without him.”
Mr. Rengers was also part of organizing the borough’s EcoDistrict.
“Ours is the first certified EcoDistrict in the world,” Ms. Ramage said. “It’s a very intense strategic planning, community engagement process where you lay out goals and they all deal with quality of life issues, like air, water, and food. It’s a plan for the future -- like a comprehensive planfor the community.”
In recent years, Mr. Rengers spent much time traveling with his wife, exploring exotic destinations and those closer to home, like the family’s pop-up trailer at a campground in the Laurel Highlands.
“We went to Costa Rica, Aruba,Jamaica and Alaska,” she said. “We traveled a lot with other couples. But, his favorite place was the beach. We went to Ocean City, Md., and he would just sit on the balcony, waving to me and reading his Bible. He was very devout, and he actually considered going into the priesthood before we met.”
At his recent funeral home viewing and funeral Mass at All Saints Church in Etna, the outpouring of love and support was beyond anything she’d anticipated, Mrs. Rengers said.
“The funeral home was backed up by hours — the funeral director estimated that there were between 1,200 and 1,400 people. I just didn’t expect that,” she said. “Even at Christmas and Easter, I never saw the church that crowded.”
Fromfeeding the homeless with his Christian men’s group to ensuring that donations were maintained at a food pantry during COVID, Mr. Rengers inspired those around him to humble themselves for the greater good, Mr.Becki recalled.
“He was my conscience,” he said. “No matter what Tom and I did together — any church or community event — we’d work for hours and days and Tom would always come up with something more that needed done. He had a great smile and some great stories. We spent hours talking about the many things we could do better if we had the time. He really was one of a kind.”
Along with his wife, Mr. Rengers is survived by his children Julie Prata, Christopher Rengers and Robert “Bob” Rengers, all of Shaler; siblings Susan Borres and Richard Rengers, both of Shaler,and Robert Rengers, of Moon;and six grandchildren.
Memorial donations are suggested to Smile Train, Bread of Life Food Pantry, 94 Locust St., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15223, or St. Matthew Parish (All Saints Church), 2100 Mt. Royal Blvd., Glenshaw, Pa. 15116.