Greensburg honors Hometown Heroes in ceremony that marks the reawakening of civic life

Last year, the Greensburg Community Development Corporation began to explore sponsoring the city’s own version of the local celebrations that have spread like wildfire through dozens of other small towns across the region including Leechburg, Kittanning and Blairsville. For $200, families and businesses could sponsor banners bearing the names and photos of local hometown heroes.

Ashley Kertes said she had no idea how many heroes called Greensburg and Southwest Greensburg home until she began working on the project. Kertes is the executive director of Greensburg Community Development.

“I shed a few tears when I heard their stories,” she said.

“Our veterans, police, EMTs and especially our volunteer firefighters are the backbone of our city. Without them, we’d just be a skeleton,” said Greensburg Mayor Robb Bell.

Veterans honored on banners ranged from World War I Doughboys to those who’ve served in Afghanistan.

Scores of families, some of whom traveled hundreds of miles, gathered for the event that included music from a Westmoreland Symphony string quartet and the Seton Hill University Pipe Band.

The event marked part of a weeklong family celebration for Patsy Testa and his family. The Greensburg veteran, who served with the Navy in the Pacific Theater, proudly sported the cap identifying him as a World War II combat vet. Family members came from several states to help him celebrate his 95th birthday Friday and then stayed on for the Hometown Heroes event on Saturday.

His wife of 70 years, Eleanor Testa, could not have been happier.

“We’ve been prisoners for the last 18 months. We’re both fully vaccinated, but we have not left the house unless it was necessary. This is the first time I’ve seen our great grandson, “ she said, as the toddler climbed over the benches that circle that amphitheater.

Patsy Testa just smiled.

Lee Goswick’s family traveled from Ligonier for the event to remember the World War II vet who raised his family in Greensburg.

His son, Rick, said he jumped when he learned about the push to honor Hometown Heroes from his son, Dan. Dan Goswick operates Blue Sky Signs, the local print shop that created the banners now waving from light poles in Greensburg and the adjacent borough of Southwest Greensburg.

“My dad was in the Army Air Corps in World War II,” Rick Goswick said. “He was a dispatcher who dropped supplies to France and flew many missions. His plane was shot down over France and he spent the rest of the war in a German POW camp. When he came home he was a typesetter for the Tribune-Review.”

The veteran, who died in 2017 at the age of 94, continued to ride a motorcycle well into his 90s, family members said.

Others honored on the banners included the late Dr. Pascal Spino, a World War II naval veteran and beloved Greensburg pediatrician for many years; Col. Chuck Anderson, a retired naval aviator who served 12 years as county commissioner after retiring from the Navy; the late Rev. Charles Frederickson, a World War II naval veteran and architect who later became a Lutheran minister and served local churches for 33 years until his death in 1999; and Mother Aloysia Lowe, the nun who served as Mother Superior of the Sisters of Charity from 1870 until 1889 and launched the order that has been key in serving parochial schools, social justice drives and food banks among other causes.

Kertes said the banners will be taken down briefly for Christmas decorations, but will be replaced and remain up for two years.

Bell agreed.

“Make no mistake, these are not all of our hometown heroes. There are tons of heroes among us who have not been recognized. We hope to recognize them sometime soon,“ he said.

A video that features the contributions of those on the banners will be posted on the Greensburg Community Development Corporation website soon, Kertes said.