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My Father-in-Law
Jack L. Mautino, Sr.
Ex-Owner of Roma Hotel, Downtown
by Torsten Ove
Post-Gazette Staff Writer
appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette Thursday, November 6, 1997
He never finished the ninth grade.
But Jack L. "Jacob" Mautino wasn't the type of man to let a lack
of formal education get in his way.
A coal miner at 16, he spent a lifetime bettering himself. He
became an auto mechanic, an operator of heavy construction machinery,
A Westinghouse machinist assigned to the Manhattan Project and,
eventually, the owner of the Roma Hotel, Downtown, for 25 years.
In between, he served as the president of his local school board
and a leader of various church groups, fire departments and clubs in
Westmoreland County. He and his wife also raised two children,
making certain both went to college.
Mr. Mautino died of a heart attack Monday at his Forest Hills
home. He was 83.
"He was very much of a person person," said his son, Jack Mautino,
Jr. "If he met you 15 years ago and he saw you on the street, he'd
walk up and ask you how you're doing and ask about your family. He
loved people. He never tried to put himself above anyone. He came
from common roots."
Born in the Westmoreland County coal patch of Wyano, Mr. Mautino
quit school and followed his father into the coal mines. He didn't
much like the work, so he took a job as an elevator operator at the
William Penn Hotel, Downtown. At the time, his uncle owned the Roma
Hotel on Penn Avenue, which Mr. Mautino would later buy in the
mid-1950's.
He studied to become an auto mechanic and as a young man went to
work operation a steam shovel in Sewickley Township. He quickly
became proficient at driving heavy machinery.
But he wanted a job that paid better. He'd married his junior
high school sweetheart, Vienna, in 1936, and the couple had Jack
three years later while living in Herminie.
In 1941, Westinghouse was hiring. Mr. Mautino took a job as a
janitor at the East Pittsburgh plant, determined to work his way up.
Later that year, America entered World War II and Mr. Mautino
received his draft notice.
He told his employers, who gave him a deferment and put him to
work as a machinist on a top-secret project. Few - employees included
- knew much about the work until the atom bomb leveled Hiroshima and
Nagasaki in 1945, ending the war with Japan.
Mr. Mautino rarely discussed his wartime job other than to say he
"made parts."
"Even [long] afterwards," said Jack,"when I would talk about it,
he would say, 'Sonny, we made parts.'"
After the war, the War Department sent Mr. Mautino a letter
commending him for his contribution to the Manhattan Project.
The Atomic Energy Commission offered him a job in Oak Ridge,
Tenn., but he declined because he wanted to stay close to his home
and family. He took a job driving a truck for American Oil in
Greensburg.
In 1954, he bought the Roma Hotel from his aunt. He had
experience in the hotel and bar business, and he was used to being in
charge. In addition to working summers for his uncle at the Roma and
his days as the elevator operator at the William Penn, he was
president of the Sons of Labor club in Herminie from 1942 to 1953.
He had also been the warden of the Knights of Columbus in
Greensburg, president of the Herminie Fire Department and, starting
in 1952, president of the school board in the Sewickley Township
School District.
"He was the type of man who was very well organized, very much a
leader," Jack said. "He rose to leadership."
The Roma was small, with about eight employees at its peak. The
Mautino family always called it "the bar." Mr. Mautino didn't get
rich from it. But he was able to provide a comfortable life for his
family in Forest Hills, where they moved in 1956 and where he became
involved in community activities, just as he had in herminie.
In 1979, he sold the hotel and retired. About two months ago,
Jack said, the current owners closed the place and took down the
sign.
Besides his son and wife, Mr. Mautino is survived by a daughter,
Madelyn Koch of Wilkes-Barre, five grandchildren and four
great-grandchildren.
Obituary of
Jack L. Mautino, Sr.
Of Forest Hills, age 83, on Monday, November 3, 1997. He was born
December 3, 1913 in Wyano, PA. He was the former owner of the Roma
Hotel, Penn Ave., Downtown for over 25 years, retiring in 1979. From
1941-1945, he was a machinist at Westinghouse, East Pittsburgh and
worked on the Manhattan Project. During the 1950's, he was a member
and president of the Sewickley Twp. School Board. He was also a
former Scoutmaster for Herminie Troop #1. Presently, he was a 4th
Degree member of the Knights of Columbus and he was a member of the
Forest Hills Vol. Fire Department. He was a member of the St.
Maurice Church Ushers Club and St. Vincent DePaul Society, also the
Northside Elks. Husband of Vienna "Vi" Mautino for 61 years; father
of Jack L. Jr. of Forest Hills and Madelyn "Mimi" Koch of
Wilkes-Barre; grandfather of Robin Artz, P. Scott and Jack L. Mautino
III, Michael and Matthew Koch; great-grandfather of Perry and Cameron
Artz, Melissa and Joseph Mautino.
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