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PA class of 1970 reunion planned

First Posted: 1/22/2014 He&#8217;s been in public service most of his life.
From serving in the military during World War II just out of high school, to counseling the past 10 PA governors, Pat Solano has make a career out of helping.
The 2013 Attorney Joseph Saporito Sr. Greater Pittston Lifetime of Service Award will be presented to Pat Solano, 88, a dear friend of the award&#8217;s namesake.
&#8220;I helped him win his campaign when he was running for mayor of Pittston,&#8221; Solano said of Saporito.
The first Lifetime of Service award was first presented in 2000 posthumously to Saporito. It was accepted by Saporito&#8217;s widow, Yolanda &#8220;Dolly&#8221; Saporito, who has since passed, and his sons, Carlo Saporito and Attorney Joseph Saporito Jr. The award thereafter was not only presented in Saporito&#8217;s memory, but was also named after him.
Solano, the charismatic, scratchy-voiced Republican from Hughestown, has served the residents of Greater Pittston as a confidante of governors, from Gov. Bill Scranton to Gov. Tom Corbett, always keeping the best interest of his home town in mind. He&#8217;s served on dozens of local committees, boards and organizations and continues to this day to be an integral part of the political fabric of Greater Pittston.
Solano retired in 2002, after 40 years of public service.
And much of Solano&#8217;s best work was behind the scenes, convincing people to run for political office, offering advice, bringing home grant money for a needed project, or mediating disputes before they went public.
If you sit with Pat Solano for any length of time, his wisdom is apparent. His counsel is often the first thing an aspiring candidate seeks and his endorsement is often enough to push a contender over the top.
He served as Third District Republican Chairman at the request of regional coal baron and political powerhouse John Kehoe since 1950 and, after making a name for himself there, became the County Republican Chairman in 1968.
Solano continued his version of the legendary Kehoe annual clambake for a number of years. &#8220;Everybody came from both sides of the aisle,&#8221; he said. &#8220;There were no politics.&#8221;
As late as last month, Solano was honored by the state&#8217;s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, an agency he helped start and lead 20 years ago. A building at Frances Slocum State Park was named the &#8220;Patrick J. Solano Environmental Education Center&#8221; in recognition of his exemplary life of leadership and service to Pennsylvania&#8217;s state parks and forests.
Gov. Corbett said Pennsylvania is indebted to Solano.
&#8220;This is a well-deserved honor for Pat for his many, many years of distinguished work for state parks and forests and Northeast Pennsylvania,&#8221; Corbett said. &#8220;It&#8217;s &#64257;tting that his name will forever be on a building dedicated to teaching children and visitors about our natural world and our history.&#8221;
Solano was born June 22, 1925, on Cork Lane in Pittston Township, one of nine children. As a teen, he said held jobs at Klein Auto Parts and A&C Auto Parts.
&#8220;Every day we picked coal at the Butler Breaker and then we came home,&#8221; Solano said.
He is a 1942 graduate of Pittston Township High School and was a running back for the school&#8217;s first football team in his senior year, but he&#8217;s not bragging.
&#8220;We got killed, we didn&#8217;t win a game,&#8221; he joked. &#8220;I was 119 pound running back and I was the biggest guy on the team. Everybody was a kid.&#8221;
Solano&#8217;s lifelong commitment to public service began right out of high school when he was called to join the U.S. Army Air Corp during World War II.
Solano flew and completed 23 combat missions over Germany with the Eighth U.S. Army Air Corp Heavy Bombardment Group. He was flight engineer in a B-17 Flying Fortress Bomber.
&#8220;When you were 18, 19 at the time, at that age, everyone was gung-ho,&#8221; Solano said. &#8220;We thought we could lick the world.&#8221;
His 10-man crew dropped eight 1,000 pound bombs each mission.
And his crew, all about 4 months apart in age, became lifelong friends. Flight engineer Solano, bombardier Bud Van Diver of Champaign, Ill., and pilot Ed Sandini of Oklahoma City, Okla., are the only ones left.
&#8220;We went thorough training together, we flew our missions together,&#8221; Solano said. &#8220;We still keep in touch. When the war ended in 1945, none of our guys on the bomber were even 21.&#8221;
For his service, he was awarded the Group Presidential Citation, the Air Force Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, and the European Combat Theatre Medal with two Bronze Stars.
&#8220;We all came back, I was lucky,&#8221; Solano said.
Solano served as assistant police chief in Pittston Township for time, and it was after the war he met the love of his life, the former Marie Nocito.
They grew up on the same block in Pittston Township, but never really knew of each other until Solano came back from the war.
They were married in 1954 and will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary this year.
&#8220;She&#8217;s the one that puts up with me,&#8221; Solano said. &#8220;She makes everything run. If I didn&#8217;t have her, I&#8217;d be in big trouble.&#8221;
The couple, who resides in Hughestown, has a large family. They are the parents of six daughters, Mary Pat Augello, Kathy Solano, Anita Bubul, Rita Zarra, Liz Blaskiewicz, Anne Branley, and have 11 grandchildren, Maria Augello, Michael Augello, Joe Augello, Thomas Bubul, Patrick Bubul, John Bubul, Elizabeth McHugh, Mary Pat Blaskiewicz, Molly Blaskiewicz, Michael Branley and Patrick Branley.
Since 1969, Solano has worked for or advised ten Pennsylvania governors on both sides of the policial aisle, offering advice and counsel. He served Govs. William Scranton, Raymond P. Shafer, Milton Shapp, Dick Thornburg, Robert P. Casey, (Acting Gov.) Mark Singel, Tom Ridge, Mark Schweiker, Ed Rendell and now Tom Corbett.
Solano is known around Northeastern Pennsylvania and Harrisburg for being quick with a joke and a friendly word.
He served two terms as a member of the former Pittston Township School Board. Those were the only elections where he was a candidate, but Solano played a role in nearly every other election since then.
He worked at the Luzerne County Courthouse as an inspector of weights and measures before heading to Harrisburg.
Projects Solano oversaw were the construction of the University of Pittsburgh Law School, the University of Pennsylvania Veterinarian School and the Port of History Building in Philadelphia. He also oversaw the $5 million mine flushing project in Pittston under Gov. Thornburg.
&#8220;Everything in Pittston was caving in, so they flushed the mines and the culm from the culm banks was smashed into half-inch pieces and it was put back in the mines. That&#8217;s what&#8217;s holding up Pittston now.&#8221;
He advised Gov. Ridge to provide $140,000 to help the Pittston Memorial Library locate to its present location and he and former state Rep. Tom Tigue were brought in to help with the Cosgrove Annex project.
He helped with permits to open up the Grimes Industrial Park in Pittston Township, which was a precursor to the CenterPointe development in that area.
His resume includes: Pittston Township Bicentennial Committee, Assistant Scout Master for Troop 212 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, 3rd Degree Knight of Columbus, the Columbus League of Luzerne County, responsible for the Christopher Columbus statue in Downtown Pittston, Pittston Memorial Library fundraising co-chairman. Luzerne County Community College trustee.
He has also been the recipient of numerous other awards, including the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce&#8217;s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council&#8217;s Thomas P. Shelbourne Environmental Leadership Award, a Doctor of Humane Letters from Misericordia University, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers Commander&#8217;s Award.
He retired at the age of 77, but he never stopped working.
&#8220;I stay involved,&#8221; he said. &#8220;A lot of people call me for advice. I don&#8217;t have a shingle out, but throughout the years, people would call if they needed something or call for some advice. I&#8217;m like the bishop&#8217;s House of Charity. Everybody knows I&#8217;ve been in the game so long, when they need something they come here.&#8221;
In retirement, Solano likes to spend time at his hunting camp in Spring Brook.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve hunted all my life, but for the past 20 years I&#8217;ve been sitting with my grandchildren,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It doesn&#8217;t make any difference if you shoot a deer. You play cards and have fun. If you get a deer, that&#8217;s fine. If you don&#8217;t, that&#8217;s fine. It&#8217;s the spirit of the sport and the camaraderie with your family and friends. That&#8217;s what makes deer hunting.&#8221;
Solano will be presented the 2013 Attorney Joseph Saporito Sr. Greater Pittston Lifetime of Service Award at a ceremony at the Gramercy Restaurant and Ballroom on March 18. The public is invited.
&#8220;I&#8217;m not a guy that kept a lot of memoirs,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But I&#8217;ve got a ton of plaques and signs, all the awards. They&#8217;re very special.&#8221;
He&#8217;s especially proud to be given the Saporito Award from the Sunday Dispatch because Saporito was his good friend and Sunday Dispatch found Bill Watson Sr. was his mentor.
&#8220;They taught me how to be honest,&#8221; Solano said. &#8220;And you learn by listening to people.&#8221;

His ‘lifetime of service’ continues