ON A MISSION In November, Mission Hills residents collected hundreds of non-perishable food items for South Hills Interfaith Movement’s food pantry, just in time for Thanksgiving. Gayle Irwin and Jan Bucey helped organize the campaign and Travis and Steve Simpson-Hunt and their two sons, Michael and Parker, collected and delivered the food.

HALL OF FAME HONORS  Dr. Rex Gatto, Elm Spring Road, was inducted in the 2020 Hall of Fame at Seton LaSalle Catholic High School.

Gatto, a business psychologist, graduated from the former South Hills Catholic High School in 1966.

After receiving his bachelor’s in music education from Duquesne University, Gatto returned to South Hills Catholic, where he served for a decade as band director and music educator. During that time, South Hills Catholic became Seton LaSalle Catholic High School.

While there, Gatto developed a music program. He also served as a member of the advisory committee and Board of Directors for more than five years.

Gatto went on to receive his master’s and doctorate degrees in education and psychology and pursued a career helping people in the workplace.

His wife, Mickey, has co-chaired gala fundraisers at Seton LaSalle. Both of his children—Shawn Gatto and Maura Gatto Cermak—graduated from Seton LaSalle and reside in Mt. Lebanon.

“South Hills Catholic/Seton LaSalle High School has played a significant role in my life as a student, music educator, parent, alumni and board member,” Gatto said. “All of those experiences have prepared me well for my profession as a business psychologist and executive coach.  I will be forever grateful to be placed in the Hall of Fame with so many distinguished people.”

Jill Doverspike comes to Mt. Lebanon Magazine with several years of experience in the newspaper and magazine industry, both in media marketing and journalism. Doverspike is a former brand manager with Pittsburgh magazine and multimedia account executive with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She and her husband, Tom, live in the South Hills.

Mauro Monz, a Seton LaSalle Rebels football standout in the early 1990s, is the school’s new head football coach. During his time at Seton LaSalle, he played quarterback and defensive back on the team that reached the WPIAL semifinals under coach Greg Gattuso. Since then, he has served as an assistant coach at the high school and collegiate levels, including stints with Robert Morris,   Duquesne and the West Virginia Institute of Technology. His most recent post was an assistant coach at Mt. Lebanon High School. He will follow Mt. Lebanon resident Mike Zmijanac as Seton LaSalle’s head coach. Zmijanac is retiring after more than 40 years of coaching football.

IT’S RADIANT If you’re looking for a lip gloss that’s radiant, moisturizing and made with love, Clare Williams, Sleepy Hollow Road, created just the product to help you shine.

Williams, a 2018 Mt. Lebanon graduate, launched her home-based business, radiantgloss, in August. The passion project for Clare started as she struggled to buy the perfect, non-sticky, vegetarian gloss at a good price.

So, she decided to do the research and make her own.

Williams, who suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder, along with chronic mental health issues, can’t work a job with a set schedule. So, starting her own business was perfect.

“I can be my own boss,” she said. “Some days, I can work even more than what a 9-to-5 job would be and some days, I don’t have to work at all if I wake up and my body is in a lot of pain.”

Williams envisioned herself as the customer and created products she would like to buy. She makes the gloss, which comes in bundles and collections, from her living room in all kinds of fun flavors—think candy cane and cake batter.

While she’s received lots of positive reviews from her main client base—found through Instagram—the business itself has especially been a blessing, as it gives her drive and focus.

“It really helps me when I’m having hard days or hard weeks or if I’m struggling physically and I’m in pain,” she said “It distracts me and it also feels like I’m working toward something.”

CALLING ALL COMMUNICATIONS MAJORS  Can you spot a typo a mile away? Do you crave more information on topics that others might find boring? Do you like to tell a good story? Are you looking for an internship? If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, you might just be eligible to become our next summer intern. We’re searching for college juniors and seniors majoring in journalism, communication or public relations to join our team. Interns will help us write stories, press releases, conduct photo shoots, come up with story ideas and more! The internship is flexible—interns will work 12 to 20 hours, and this year it will be mostly remote. It is an unpaid internship, but it can be done for college credit and we will work around summer jobs. Send a cover letter, resume and writing samples to Katie Wagner, 710 Washington Road, Pittsburgh, PA, 15228, or via email at kwagner@mtlebanon.org.

SCHOOL SPIRIT SAFETY Mt. Lebanon Class of ’21 is selling some Lebo-specific PPE. All proceeds will go toward funding senior class activities. Masks are $12 each or three for $30. Call 412-344-2057 or email Judith Kolko to order, or order online.

VIRTUAL PUBLIC MEETINGS All Commission meetings will be held remotely until further notice. But you have plenty of ways to participate.If you would like to participate in the meeting live, as it happens, you can join via the Zoom platform either on your computer or on your phone. For an invitation, go to www.mtlebanon.org, “trending now,” where you will see an item called “commission meeting remote participation info.” Alternately, you can go to www.mtlebanon.org/commission. There you will find a link to register for both the discussion meeting, which starts at 6:30 and the regular meeting, which starts at 8. Register for each meeting you wish to attend. You may also check the box in the registration form to indicate whether you want to speak in citizens comments for the regular meeting only or in any public hearings. You must first state your name and address and you will have a maximum of five minutes to speak. Please make sure you have the most recent version of Zoom installed to be able to speak.

If you are not able to attend and you have a comment, you may send your comment via email to Julie Garrubba at and your comments will be read into the record of the meeting. Again, you will need to give your name and address along with your comments, which need to be able to be read in the five-minute time allowance.

Finally, you may drop off written comments to be read into the record. Make sure your comments include your name and address and take them to the customer service center in the Municipal Building, 710 Washington Road and mark them Commission Meeting Comments, Attn: Julie Garrubba.