Mary Ellen Ramage knew Dave Becki as an Etna resident who was “quite irritated” when he was first elected to the borough’s council in 1989.
And Becki was indeed irritated after the home he moved to in 1984 was flooded in 1986 and almost flooded a second time a year later.
“That irritated me so I started going to council meetings to see what the local officials at the time were doing to prevent flooding,” Becki said. “I didn’t think enough was being done, not realizing that local governments don’t control Mother Nature. I got fed up and in 1989 I ran to see if I could change things.”
For Ramage, then a young woman and Etna’s assistant manager, seeing Becki become an elected official made her nervous.
“He had been highly critical,” she recalled.
Ramage became Etna’s manager shortly after that. Over the next nearly four decades, she came to see Becki as “a remarkable human being who really gave a lot of his life to his community to make it better.”
“He really dug in to learn about what had happened in his neighborhood and how it happened,” she said. “It was actually quite a pleasure working with him on flood mitigation and flood preparedness. He really threw himself into that.”
Becki would be reelected to Etna Council for eight more four-year terms, serving 36 years. He decided to retire and had not sought reelection in 2025.
“I used to have a greater passion for being an elected official. I felt that slipping away a little bit. I wasn’t giving 120% any more,” said Becki, 70. “There seems to be a younger generation interested in getting involved. It was time for me to step aside so the younger people coming up can start taking over some of these elected official and community roles.”
Becki considered leaving council four years ago, but with then-Mayor Tom Rengers decided to serve one more term after longtime Councilman Pete Ramage, husband of Mary Ellen Ramage, decided not to seek re-election himself.
Rengers died in December 2023; Pete Ramage died in January 2025.
Becki said he stayed to help the newer members of council. Previously vice president of council since 2010, he was president of council for his final term.
“I’ve done what I can to pass the baton,” he said. “I just hope that those people in the borough that are involved can find others to get involved as we have over the decades. Nice things are starting in Etna. I think it’s in good hands.”
Council celebrated Becki’s service, as an elected official and a community volunteer, during his final meeting Dec. 16. A resolution Mayor Robert Tuñón read honoring him says he “has been one of the most diligent, hands-on elected officials since he joined the elected body.”
“No matter what community event, Dave was always there, whether it be putting up tents and lights for Light the Night or setting up for the annual Etna Economic Development Corporation’s Carnival, Night at the Races, Community Day, Memorial Day services, all our celebrations, he was there, behind the scenes, making sure all was possible,” the resolution says.
Tuñón, an Etna resident since 2014, said he has known Becki since 2017, before he was appointed mayor in January 2024 to replace Rengers. Tuñón was unopposed for election as mayor in November.
Tuñón said they first became acquainted through the Etna Economic Development Corp., which Becki was a founding member of and still serves as a volunteer.
“When I think about Dave Becki, I think of someone who you could always count on,” Tuñón said. “He’s somebody who was always prepared for every meeting. He has a very strong mind for the financial aspects, the logistical aspects, the procedural aspects, the way that borough government is supposed to work.
“What Dave Becki provided Etna Borough with, in a realm where we are largely volunteers as elected officials, was the professional manner in which he conducted himself. He constantly worked at improving the borough through improving himself so we could benefit from his knowledge and experience,” Tuñón said. “He has also been somebody who loves this town. He served and does what he does because he loves Etna and loves its residents and wanted the town to be better.”
Becki will be recognized again, by the Allegheny County Borough’s Association as its Borough Official of the Year, at the group’s annual banquet Feb. 7 at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh.
“That just speaks to how he’s not only made a difference in our town, but he’s had a lasting impact on Allegheny County as well through his leadership,” Tuñón said.
Becki and his wife, Judi, have been married since 1978. They have three daughters and four grandchildren. He worked as a sales engineer for 47 years, retiring in August 2025.
A Shaler native, Becki said he and his wife lived in Lawrenceville before buying a home in Etna’s Third Ward in 1984, where they still live. They liked that the community was walkable and close to bus service.
“More importantly, there was a Catholic grade school in our back yard and stores down the road,” he said. “My wife liked to walk to the local stores, take the kids to the playground, stuff like that. It was nice going to a community event and seeing all my neighbors and all my daughters’ friends. We didn’t have to go far for activities for them.
“It’s a nice place to live, and it has a nice, warm family feeling to it.”
While she likes to say Etna has been on an upswing the past few years, Ramage, whose own service to the borough spans nearly 50 years, said Becki was among those who were there through the hard times — the loss of industry and jobs, the shuttering of mom-and-pop stores and the borough struggling financially.
Becki put in the effort and did the work that needed to be done while also having a full-time job and raising his family.
“I really give credit to the people who were here when it was hard,” she said. “He was one of the ones, including my husband and Tom Rengers, who stuck it out through the really hard times. People were angry. Really difficult decisions had to be made, and they stayed during all of that. I really attribute the success we have today to those people that did do all of that.”
Ramage said she’ll have to adjust to Becki, her friend, not being there.
“He really did make Etna better,” she said. “At the end of the day, leaving something better than when you came, that’s the whole goal. He certainly did that.”
Despite the flood risk, which did hit them a second time in 2004, Becki said he and his wife never looked for a new house while he was serving as an elected official, because moving out of the ward would have meant resigning from council. But now, should an opportunity to find a house outside the flood zone come up, he says they’d be “more likely to do it.”
If they move out of Etna, he said they would not go too far so they can stay near family.
“I would like to stay in Etna. I love the community,” he said.