'Force of nature' Patty Ameno dies at 72

The Kiski Valley is missing one of its most dogged, outspoken voices.

Longtime environmental activist and Kiski Valley resident Patty Ameno has died.

Ameno, 72, of Hyde Park died Friday, according to friends, who are flooding social media sites with expressions of grief and condolences.

Ameno was known by friends, co-workers, politicians and members of the media as a firebrand who wouldn’t rest until the work was done. Founder of Citizens’ Action for a Safe Environment, she spent a good part of her life advocating for proper treatment of nuclear waste and for environmental rights.

“She was, for the lack of better words, a force of nature,” said Ramesh Santanam, a former reporter for the then-Valley News Dispatch and, later, a friend of Ameno.

Santanam met Ameno in 2001 while working on a project covering the former Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. nuclear fuel plant in Apollo, a story that Ameno brought attention to with her activism.

Her campaigns included spearheading federal lawsuits on behalf of several hundred Apollo-area residents that settled with NUMEC for more than $80 million for alleged radioactive emissions causing cancer and property damage.

Belinda Thurston, a retired reporter who covered the developments surrounding the investigation of the plant in the early 1990s, described Ameno as fierce. Thurston said Ameno made it clear to community members that they were allowed to question companies they suspected of polluting their environment.

“Patty was a force,” Thurston said. “Patty was an energy. She was not an energy that bureaucracy and governments like to deal with.”

In a world of gnats and flies in the government’s face, Ameno was the hornet, Thurston said.

“The government will wait you out until you die off and shut up,” Thurston said. “They never had that with Patty. Patty was tenacious. That whole community has her to thank for having the foresight to want to protect them and wanting to hold the culpable parties accountable.”

Santanam said Ameno never relinquished the fight. Her passion for her community carried her through years of activism.

Ameno grew up across the street from the NUMEC nuclear fuels plant in Apollo.

The search for answers and restitution for her hometown dealing with the lasting effects of the plant’s legacy lasted three decades.

“Her human side really came out (during the battle with NUMEC),” Thurston said. “She had a great sense of humor and she had a care and a love for the human connection. She showed her love through how hard she fought for people.”

A woman of many hats, Ameno was a Navy veteran and a retired federal agent of the U.S. Department of Defense. Thurston said Ameno’s military and investigative background was helpful during many of her investigative stories surrounding NUMEC, but it could have a downside.

“She was a thorn in my side,” Thurston said. “Patty would call me at whatever time, and everything was urgent. I would have to tell her that she wasn’t my boss or editor. She would fax and email like crazy. Sometimes, I would see the caller ID and I would just look at it and shake my head.”

Santanam said he witnessed Ameno’s demand for immediate action firsthand.

“She was incredibly helpful on the project,” he said. “She would give us any contact that we needed if she knew them, but then she’d call back shortly after and ask, ‘Did you talk to them yet?’ We’d have to say no, and then she’d call back a little later and ask again.”

Despite her intensity, Thurston said Ameno was too endearing to stay mad at.

“I got to know about her family and her wife,” Thurston said. “She was human. She wasn’t just that one issue. She was human overall. It helped me realize that I could be human, too.”

In the years since working together, Thurston and Ameno continued their friendship and stayed in touch through social media. She said Ameno would message her randomly to remind Thurston that she is appreciated.

“She would still try to boss me around sometimes,” Thurston said.

Santanam said he lost contact with Ameno for a bit. Thanks to social media, the friends were able to reconnect through Facebook. When they first began speaking again, he mentioned that he had to go to the doctor. She immediately asked what was wrong and what she could do to help him.

“That’s just the kind of person she was,” Santanam said. “Even though we hadn’t seen each other in years, she was willing to drop everything for me.”

Ameno held bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice from both Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the University of California Los Angeles and another in criminology law and justice from Chapman University.

Curran Funeral Home and Cremation Services of Leechburg is handling Ameno’s funeral arrangements. All services are private. No obituary will be published.

“I hope that the community remembers her as someone who loved them,” Thurston said. “They’re living with the benefits of that love.”