Bethel Park, Upper St. Clair citizens of the year named
Brad Hundt/Observer-Reporter
Elizabeth “Libby” Mascaro receives outstanding citizen of the year honors from District Judge Ronald Arnoni.
Brad Hundt/Observer-Reporter
John Oakes, left, of Bethel Park, receives outstanding citizen of the year honors from District Judge Ronald Arnoni.
Brad Hundt/Observer-Reporter
District Judge Ronald Arnoni, right, gives the Bethel Park Historical Society outstanding organization of the year honors as Bill Haberthur looks on.
District Judge Ronald Arnoni frequently has to deal with people and things that are not-so-good in his courtroom, but on March 25, he was able to honor people who do a great deal of good in the Bethel Park and Upper St. Clair communities.
“I want to recognize good people and have some goodness in this room,” Arnoni explained before he gave Elizabeth “Libby” Mascaro the 2021 Outstanding Citizen of the Year Award for Upper St. Clair. He then bestowed the same honor on John Oakes of Bethel Park, and named the Bethel Park Historical Society organization of the year.
Mascaro is an active volunteer, giving her time and energy to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and the Upper St. Clair Parent Teacher Council Wellness Committee, which she co-founded in 2017. A standout soccer player when she attended Mt. Lebanon High School, she played NCAA Division I soccer for Penn State University. Mascaro graduated from Robert Morris University and worked as a pharmaceutical sales representative for Pfizer Inc.
A newly elected member of Bethel Park’s municipal council, Oakes also serves on the executive board of the historical society, is a member of the Bethel Park/Upper St. Clair Rotary Club, and volunteers for a range of organizations, including the American Legion Post 760, the Bethel Baseball Association and South Park Theater. The owner of a plumbing business, he has also built a hydroponics lab for the students at Neil Armstrong Middle School in Bethel Park.
Oakes said the work he does in the community “is not like work to me. I really enjoy volunteering. It’s more like fun than it is work.”
In 2021, the Bethel Park Historical Society, the organization of the year, placed 545 wreaths at Bethel Cemetery to honor veterans, worked with the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh and California University of Pennsylvania to create videos based on the history of the community and worked with Bethel Park Public Library on a storytime for the community’s children.