Speech #1010151922

PA. who has just reached a milestone of service to the people of the Wyoming Valley that no other individual has ever attained. Mr. Battisti. a senior vice president of the First Eastern Bank of WilkesBarre. has just celebrated his 70th year as a community banker. The life of Salvatore Battisti is a classic American success story. An Immigrant from Sicily just after the turn of the century. he attended Pennsylvania public schools and graduated In the mid1920s from the distinguished Wharton School of Business. Mr. Battistis fluency in Italian won him an entry level job at the Miners Savings Bank where he survived the Great Depression. the passage of the GlassSteagall Act. the National Banking Act. and numerous other reces-