Longtime Republican advocate, activist Lynette Villano remembered
Lynette Villano shakes hands with her hero, President Donald Trump. Villano, a longtime Luzerne County Republican advocate and activist, died on Aug. 31 at the age of 80.
A screenshot of a Facebook post shows Lynette Villano with her friend, Pulitzer Prize winner Ben Bradlee Jr.
WILKES-BARRE — The late Lynette Villano was the truest of true-blue MAGAS, and she was a kind and caring soul to anyone who wanted to have a conversation about politics or life, according to Ben Bradlee Jr., Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.
“When I think of Lynette, I will always think of her as she looked in the photo of she and her hero, Donald J. Trump,” Bradlee said this week. “As much as Trump was smiling in his standard pose, you knew Lynette was beaming twice as much on the inside. She adored him, and as far as she was concerned, he was an almost god-like figure who could do no wrong.”
Villano died Aug. 31 at the age of 80.
Tony Brooks, Wilkes-Barre Council Member and a longtime friend of Villano’s, said it was in politics that Lynette left her most lasting public mark.
Brooks said Villano’s involvement began in 1980, and over the next four decades, she became a fixture of the Luzerne County Republican Party.
• She served on the Republican Committee for more than 25 years, rising to vice chairman and then making history as the first woman ever to chair the Republican Party of Luzerne County.
• In 1994, she received the Dwight David Eisenhower Award for dedicated service to the party.
• In 1997, she carried her commitment onto the ballot herself as the Republican candidate for Luzerne County Register of Wills.
• She was also chosen to serve as a delegate to the Republican National Convention on several occasions, beginning in 2004, representing Luzerne County on the party’s national stage.
• She went on to serve as treasurer of the Republican Women of Luzerne County and as a member of the Pennsylvania Republican State Committee — a post she held to the end of her life.
“So central was she to the life of her party that it has been said the political history of Luzerne County cannot be written without T. Lynette Villano,” Brooks said.
In a literary spotlight
Her prominence in county politics drew notice beyond Luzerne County as well — she was among the residents profiled in “The Forgotten: How the People of One Pennsylvania County Elected Donald Trump and Changed America” — Ben Bradlee Jr.’s 2018 book that examined the politics of her home county. The book has been called a sociological history, exploring why and how voters stunned the world by electing who they did and how America is changing as a result.
Bradlee said he met Villano almost 10 years ago in December of 2016, a month after Trump shocked the country and the world by defeating Hillary Clinton and, so improbably, getting himself elected president of the United States.
“As it turned out, it was Luzerne County in rural Northeast Pennsylvania, which had played a key role in Trump’s victory,” Bradlee said. “He had piled up such a margin in traditionally Democratic Luzerne that it made the difference in his winning Pennsylvania and likely the election.”
Curious about Luzerne County, Bradlee traveled to Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, and other parts of the county to interview Trump voters, thinking there could be a book on just why people had voted for such an unusual candidate.
Bradlee said “the Forgotten People’’ were the folks Trump said he was running to represent.
“One of the people I chose to profile was Lynette,” Bradlee said. “We spent hours together, and she was probably the star of the book. She was also the person who willingly risked losing friends and family in pursuit of her devotion to him.”
When the book was published, Bradlee said Villano used to joke that he made her famous — having been interviewed by national reporters coming to the back roads of Luzerne County in search of a prime exemplar of the Trump phenomenon.
“She would say you had to learn how to decode Trump, to know what he meant and what he didn’t mean,” Bradlee said. “She thought Trump’s boorish insults were mostly amusing, and not to be taken literally or seriously. It bothered her when the media would blow up Trump’s provocative statements, because she and his other supporters knew he didn’t really mean what he said. They just thought he was a different candidate who was speaking his mind in a different, refreshing way.”
It wasn’t easy to be with Trump
Bradlee said Villano told him, “When people put Trump down all the time, it was hard not to think they were putting you down too. We were constantly being made to feel uneducated if we supported Trump. We felt like elitists were laughing at us. That hurt me.”
Bradlee said Villano said there were personal costs to being a hardcore MAGA as well.
According to Bradlee, Villano said it wasn’t easy to be with Trump.
“I went against people in my own party, I lost friends, and it caused a break within my family — I’m sure I’m not the only one who has had to deal with estrangement from family members because of the election,” Lynette told him. “Does it hurt? More than I can put into words. This is the reality of how divided we are in this country. People so dislike our president that there is no tolerance for anyone who supports him. Sadly, this is the world we live in today.”
An unlikely friendship
Bradlee said Villano remained steadfast in her support of Trump. They exchanged hundreds of emails in the last several years trying to sway the other.
“We had serious dialogue about the issues, too,” Bradlee said. “There was a willingness to hear the other’s opinion — a willingness to listen. There was respect, and an acknowledgment that we were both Americans and that despite our different views, a common citizenship came first.”
Bradlee said he occasionally would come back to Wilkes-Barre, and he and Villano would have dinner.
A screenshot of a Facebook post shows Lynette Villano with her friend, Pulitzer Prize winner Ben Bradlee Jr.
“One of my favorite memories was when she posted on Facebook a picture of the two of us a few years ago after one of our dinners, with an inscription that moved me,” Bradlee said.
Villano’s comments under that picture were:
“It’s always a pleasure to encounter my friend Ben Bradlee, exemplifying how individuals with vastly differing political perspectives can maintain mutual respect and a strong friendship.”
Bradlee said this about Villano’s words:
“Loyalty, citizenship, kindness, and that willingness to try and bridge America’s vast political divide will be the legacy of Lynette Villano, who died peacefully on Aug. 31, in Luzerne County at age 80. RIP Lynette.”
More friends remember Villano
• Tony Brooks:
“Lynette was utterly devoted to two things in her life — her son Ronnie and the GOP.
“She was always there for her son, every step of the way, and at the same time, she never missed an event.
“She attended every committee meeting, every registration drive, and every fundraiser.
“But most importantly, she goes down in the history books as the first woman chair of the Luzerne County Republican Party — elected in 1999.”
Brooks, who sits on Wilkes-Barre City Council, served as treasurer of the county GOP under Villano’s tenure as chair.
• Bill Lewis:
“Very sad passing of a great and dedicated community and political leader and volunteer.
“Lynette’s ground breaking service as the first female Republican chair of Luzerne County, she helped to further the role and respect for women in politics.
“She was a well-respected person in state and national political circles.”
• Arthur Bobbouine:
“Luzerne County and the Republican Party lost a great woman this week. Lynette Villano was always there to lend a hand.
“When I met her over 30 years ago, she was involved in the West Pittston Little League and the county Republican Party. She loved West Pittston, Luzerne County, and the Republican Party.
“But the more I got to know her, I realized she loved her son, Ronnie, most of all. He had health issues as a child and had a heart transplant. She dedicated her life to making sure he was OK.
“She was dedicated to the principles of the Republican Party. She was a trailblazer for Republican women in the area. She loved the community and was willing to help.
“When Trump first ran for President, she was immediately with him. I told her she was crazy; he couldn’t win. I was supporting Marco Rubio. Well, as the field whittled down, Lynette was right. And she told me about it.
“I am proud to call her my friend. She was an amazing person, fiercely loyal, and dedicated to her Country, her Republican Party, and her son Ronnie.”
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Reach Bill O’Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.
