This past weekend, I had the honor to celebrate and commemorate the hard work and passionate dedication of former Lansdale Borough Mayor Mike DiNunzio by helping open a new gazebo in Memorial Park that celebrates his life and service to our community.
Mayor Mike, as he was affectionately monikered, was many things to our community. He was a small business owner, a veteran, a public servant, and someone who believed fervently that Lansdale was one of the best places to call home. Mayor Mike served Lansdale as our mayor for more than 25 of our 150 years (or around 16% of the towns incorporation), spanning three different decades. In each of those periods, Lansdale was presented with challenges that forced us to evolve, change, and adapt, and Mayor Mike was there helping us achieve it.
At the commemoration and naming ceremony for the new gazebo Mayor Mike’s son, Mike DiNunzio Jr., shared a quote by Theodore Roosevelt that his father aways appreciated and valued, and I believe helped him serve our community:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
This quote is one that, on many occasions, I have also turned to for inspiration, guidance, and to help frame a speech or two. It encourages us to find the strength to act when needed. To commit ourselves entirely to the fight and to not be afraid of failure, because in failure the effort still stands testament to our strength and fortitude.
Mayor Mike had that strength. He had that fortitude.
Sadly, I did not have the pleasure of knowing Mayor Mike personally. However, his legacy and the impact of his dedication stands as an example of what our community can achieve when we are steadfastly focused on how we can lift the community up by acting without the fear of failure. As we continue to grow and change as a borough let’s “strive valiantly” and “dare greatly” so that we can continue to build a community that is perpetually moving forward together.
(Mayoral Musings is a weekly op-ed column submitted to North Penn Now, courtesy of Lansdale Borough Mayor Garry Herbert. The views expressed are his own.)
See also:
Mayoral Musings: Growing the Lansdale Police Department
Mayoral Musings: Reaction to Roe vs Wade Being Overturned
Mayoral Musings: Enterprise Zone Discussion
Mayoral Musings: Block Parties In Lansdale
Mayoral Musings: Pride Month 2022
