Guy and Bonnie Travaglio

PENN TWP — Democrats from across Butler County turned out on Thursday night to honor a former state representative who friends and family members call the epitome of public service and hometown advocacy in Harrisburg.

The Butler County Democratic Committee honored Guy Travaglio at a dinner event at Butler Country Club, where the Butler native was feted as a hometown hero whose integrity, honesty and desire to help people propelled him into a career as a state lawmaker.

“He just dedicated his time to the community,” said Georgiann Kerr, chairwoman of the committee, on why the group decided to honor Travaglio this year.

“He's just been a very solid Butler guy,” said Jack Beiler, the committee's treasurer.

Travaglio, a 1945 graduate of Butler High School, served in the U.S. Army from 1945 to 1947 and was deployed to Okinawa, Japan, during World War II. After the war Travaglio returned home and attended Slippery Rock University and Butler Business School, He served as sales manager for WISR Radio and owned various area businesses in the 1960s and 1970s, and served on Butler City Council for one term, from 1966 to 1970. Along the way he served as an officer in more than 30 civic clubs, veterans clubs, and local, state and national organizations — from the Boy Scouts of America to the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

In 1994, Travaglio was elected to the state House of Representatives as a Democrat representing the 11th District, which includes the city. Travaglio would serve for a decade in the state House before retiring before the 2004 election. During his time in the House Travaglio served on, among others, the House Tourism and Recreational Development Committee.

But in comments to about 100 assembled Democrats on Thursday, Travaglio's friends and family said it was more than the length and breadth of his service that inspired them. It was the reasons he decided to get into public service in the first place.

“I remember going door to door for you,” said Tony Stagno, who first met Travaglio in 1994, during his first campaign for the state House. “It was that honesty that got you elected.”

For Stagno, who first came to Travaglio's campaign because the state teacher's union viewed it as a decisive race for Democrats trying to hold on to power in the House at the time, Travaglio's passion for community service outweighed any short term political concerns. He called the former state representative “one of the nicest men ever to grace the streets of Butler.”

“Guy, you're a man who gets things done,” said Stagno.

Travaglio also had an impact on Butler County Commissioner Kevin Boozel, who said he still remembers Travaglio as a reliable and ever-present supporter while Boozel was working in social services. Boozel said that these days he thinks of Travaglio as a mentor.

“When things couldn't get done or moved, the person I could always rely on was Guy,” said Boozel.

For Fred Vero, who served as Travaglio's chief of staff throughout his decade in Harrisburg, Thursday night was an opportunity to come clean about a secret he'd been hiding all these years. The man most people lauded as a near-perfect icon of public service did, in fact, have one vice: Hot fudge sundaes. Travaglio had one almost every night, Vero confessed to his wife, Bonnie, despite her attempts to keep him eating healthy while in Harrisburg.

That was the only vice Vero could muster, however. He went on to speak about the “gold standard” Travaglio set for honesty, kindness, compromise, loyalty and professionalism.

“Next to my father you are the best person I ever worked with,” said Vero.

The evening's final speaker was Tom Burkley, a former Butler City Council member who fondly recalled Travaglio's help and support during a period of infighting and uncertainty in the city, while rumors swirled about the ultimate fate of Butler Health System. Burkley said that despite council's dysfunction, Travaglio was the only state official from Butler County who seemed interested in acting as a stabilizing force during the turmoil.

“It's just a tremendous honor to be here and know you touched so many lives and did things for so many people,” Burkley said. “Those things put them in a position to do things for somebody else.”

Travaglio, for his part, said he was “astonished” by the outpouring of love and praise, and said his plan and purpose for leaping headlong into public service and community involvement was, and remains, very simple.

“I wanted to help people,” he said. “And that's exactly what I did.”