There's always time on her schedule for Florence Dunyak Gantt to return to her hometown of Donora.

She has traveled the globe in the service of the U.S. government and she continues to maintain a busy itinerary today.

Most recently, Gantt, a 1957 graduate of Donora High School, made that journey as part of her induction into the Ringgold Rams Club Hall of Fame. She was honored with the HOF Class of 2014 with James W. Breedlove, Trudy Carson Sales, Ruby Daugherty, attorney Carolyn Duronio, Sherry Vignoli Parisi, Dr. Walter R. Cox, Anthony Wayne Peters and retired U.S. Army Gen. Carl E. Vuono.

“On the return to Donora, my husband and I visited the Donora Historical Society's museum at Sixth Street and McKean Avenue,” said Gantt. “We were pleasantly surprised to see the many displays that were presented. It all brought back so many memories of a time and place I wish everyone could have experienced. You knew everyone in town or at least one member of every family. Life was good.”

Gantt said her formative years in Donora brought lasting lessons about a good work ethic, family and close friendships being “important to a successful life.”

“Be honest and reliable was what we learned,” she said. “Know that what you do in your life today will follow you the rest of your life. Religion, volunteering and giving back are fundamental to happiness.”

Among those providing those words of wisdom and guidance were Gantt's parents, the late Miklos (Nick) Dunyak and Elizabeth Tassotti Dunyak. Her father was a first helper in the open hearth, making steel for the Donora American Steel and Wire Works of U.S. Steel Corp. He passed away in 1995. Gantt's mother died in 1966.

Much of what Gantt learned in Donora carried into a distinct and distinguished career that included 30 years in the White House.

Following graduation from Donora High School, Gantt attended and graduated in 1958 cum laude from the Business Training College in Pittsburgh. Known then as BTC, it subsequently became Point Park Junior College and is now Point Park University.

Soon after receiving her diploma from BTC, Gantt took her first job with the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. at its Southside Works in Pittsburgh.

In 1963, she married John (Jack) Thomas Gwyer of Monessen at St. Leonard Roman Catholic Church in Monessen. Gwyer was a graduate of Monessen High School, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, and was working for the federal government in Washington at the time and that meant a transition from Pittsburgh to the nation's capital for Gantt.

“My intention upon moving to Washington, D.C., was to work for the Central Intelligence Agency,” she recalled. “I had taken the entrance exam in Pittsburgh at one of their satellite offices. I found out the day before I was to be married that I could not begin working at CIA until I had a full lifestyle investigation, which would take three more months. I was later told it was because I had relatives living behind the Iron Curtain. I did not want to sit around for three months so I temporarily worked for the National Science Foundation. While I was employed there I was detailed to work at the White House on a temporary assignment on President (John F.) Kennedy's Energy Study.”

Gantt's CIA clearances eventually came through and she underwent psychological and polygraph tests and a physical exam. At this time she also received a job offer from the National Security Council.

“I was described as bright-eyed and bushy tailed,” she said. “I was to work in the office of the National Security Council that handles atomic energy and nuclear matters, i.e., the Underground Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Since I had been working in the area of the White House and the CIA offices were in Virginia, I decided to accept the NSC position. My security clearances from CIA were accepted by the NSC.”

That was in September 1963, only two months before President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

Gantt remained on the staff at the White House as Lyndon B. Johnson became president. By 1968, she began working in the White House Situation Room for the NSC. She moved to the front office of the NSC in the West Wing when Richard M. Nixon was elected president in 1969.

She was one of the secretaries to National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger when in July 1971 they travelled on an around-the-world journey as he prepared for his secret trip to China that would set up the February 1972 visit by President Nixon to Communist China, the first by an American President in more than two decades. It was during that visit that Gantt personally met and sat in on meetings with Premier Chou En-Lai.

Gantt's assignments at the White House also included traveling with National Security Advisor General Brent Scowcroft on a secret mission to Beijing, China, to get a first-hand report on the Tiananmen Square incident for President George H.W. Bush. She also accompanied Scowcroft to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during the Gulf War on a special presidential mission.

After the death of her first husband, Jack Gwyer, in 1978, Gantt married U.S. Army Col. Robert (Bob) Gantt in 1980.

Gantt's career with the National Security Council spanned 30 years, under seven presidents: Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush; and 11 National Security Advisors including Kissinger, Scowcroft and General Colin L. Powell.

She travelled many times on Air Force One to 58 countries, 25 states and two U.S. territories. She also travelled on Marine One, the presidential helicopter, and worked at the various presidential retreats. She met such heads of state as President Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Great Britain, King Fahd and HRH Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, and Premier Deng Xiaoping of the People's Republic of China. With President Bush, she had an audience with Pope John Paul II and also met Mother Teresa.

Asked if any of those experiences stands out above the others, Gantt said, “Thirty years in the White House wow, how do I choose an event that stands out among all of them?”

“I believe having been a part of the resumption of diplomatic relations with Communist China after 25 years ranks quite high,” she said. “Being there in Berlin when President Reagan asked Mr. Gorbachev to ‘Tear down this (Berlin) Wall' also ranks up there. Being involved in the planning of Desert Shield and Desert Storm (the first Gulf War) and then accompanying President George H.W. Bush on his visit to the troops in Saudi Arabia also is high on the list.”

After 30 years of service, and with the title of Special Assistant to the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, Gantt retired from the U.S. government in 1993 and was presented with a Special Award medal for Exceptional Service by President Bush. She worked for two more years in private industry with Gen. Scowcroft and then officially retired.

Family matters keep Gantt busy today.

She and Gwyer had three children, two daughters and a son. Gantt also has two stepsons.

Gantt's brothers, Nicholas (Nick) Dunyak and Norman Dunyak live in Florida and Charleroi, respectively.

Five children and their spouses and 14 grandchildren keep Gantt and her husband on a busy schedule, but she enjoys the traveling.

“I am a snowbird,” she said. “We live in Florida for six months and spend the remainder of the year between Virginia and our log home in West Virginia.”

Gantt also savors keeping in touch with longtime friends and classmates from Donora High School, where she was an honors student, a class officer and a member of the Girls Athletic League, Student Council and National Honor Society.

“As class treasurer, I handled the sock hops (dances), which were a way of making money for our treasury,” she said. “I never missed a dance. We also went to The Dog House in Rostraver Township, played miniature golf and enjoyed swimming at Redd's Beach and the pool at South Park.”

She also worked at Murphy's Five and Ten Cent Store in Donora on weekends and in the summer.

She was active at St. Michael's Byzantine Catholic Church in Donora and was a member of the Sodality of Our Blessed Mother. “We produced a monthly newsletter and attended Mass as a group once a month,” she said.

Her closest friends during those years were Margie Dolak, who has passed away, Mary Ann Gaydos Wentz, Tom Chatlak, Steve “Spike” Morgan, Jim Burkhardt, the Kane twins, Beverly and Barbara, Bob McKeta, Suzie Wertz, Renee Schmidt Issacs and Josephine DeBerardinis Bentz.

“It's fun staying in touch with everyone,” Gantt said. “I have missed only one of our class reunions, and I also loved attending the 50s Decade reunions. It was always wonderful to see our class members as well as friends from other classes.”

All of those activities notwithstanding, Gantt also perpetuates the qualities of “giving back” by volunteering as an Army Arlington Lady representing the Army Chief of Staff at funerals at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. In that capacity she helps to ensure that no service member is ever buried alone without a civilian in attendance.

Her formal duties with the U.S. government ended 22 years ago, but her sense of duty to country and others has not.

Ron Paglia is a freelance writer for Trib Total Media.

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