Longtime advocate for veterans
home loses his final battle

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

"The long march is over," said an almost weeping Vince Malatesta as a phalanx of elected officials, military leaders and former GIs celebrated the grand opening of the Delaware Valley Veterans Home in the Far Northeast five years ago.
The volunteer president of the Veterans for a Delaware Valley Nursing Home had good reason to emote that day as the ribbon cutting culminated two decades of political trench warfare for the World War II Navy vet and his colleagues.
Malatesta won that fight. But on Oct. 12, the 85-year-old lost a battle with illness and passed away at his home in Penndel, Bucks County.
Those who worked closest with Malatesta on the veterans home project remember a man driven by an unwavering desire to provide aging and ailing vets with a comfortable, caring, safe and affordable place to live out their golden years.
"It was his bag. It was his life," said Ed Comly, a World War II Army vet from Bustleton who served with Malatesta on the executive boards of the Veterans for a Delaware Valley Nursing Home as well as the home’s advisory committee.
"The Delaware Valley Nursing Home — he thought of nothing else but (that)," Comly said. "He gave his time, effort and money out of his own pocket."
Malatesta, a successful owner and operator of a wall coverings and window treatments shop, co-founded the veterans home campaign in 1980 as a leader of his local American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts. The following year, he became president of a new non-profit organization that later would become Veterans for a Delaware Valley Nursing Home.
Recognizing the absence of a veterans home in the Philadelphia area, the group first tried to buy the former Delaware Valley Medical Center (now Frankford Hospital-Bucks County) in Falls Township, which was for sale at the time.
When that failed, the vets decided to try to establish a home on the grounds of the state-owned Philadelphia State Hospital, a mental health residential facility commonly known as Byberry, at Roosevelt Boulevard and Southampton Road.
In 1994, four years after Byberry closed following allegations of patient abuse, a bill sponsored by state Rep. George Kenney and passed by the legislature awarded 19.5 acres at Byberry and $7.5 million in state funding to the project. However, the project still hinged on an additional $13.9 million in federal funding.
Malatesta, Comly and a third member of their committee, Harold Fisher, organized a series of public rallies and personally lobbied federal officials, including U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, in an effort to secure the needed funding. They got it in October 1998.
Design and construction took another four years.
"The three of us used to go to Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.," Comly said. "We met senators and representatives, national and state; the governor; the (Pennsylvania Veterans Affairs) general at Fort Indiantown Gap — it was just go, go, go."
With construction underway, Malatesta and his group turned their attention to acquiring many comforts of home for the 171 residents. One of Malatesta’s biggest priorities was to acquire a television for each resident. He also led efforts to raise money for improvements to the home’s chapel. Members of the volunteer group also staffed the home’s canteen, a sundry shop for residents.
"Once the state took over, we were done (officially), but he never stopped working," Comly said.
Malatesta was a member of American Legion Post 436 in Penndel, the Levittown VFW Post 6495, the Langhorne Lions Club and the Moose Lodge.
He is survived by a son, Joseph; a daughter-in-law, Sharon Lynn; five grandchildren; four great grandchildren; a brother, Leo; and three sisters, Connie Patton, Margaret Schulzinski and Kay Cara.
According to Comly, Malatesta was planning a move from his Penndel home into a veterans facility in Hollidaysburg, Pa. He was also on a waiting list for the fully occupied Delaware Valley home, Comly said.
"He had his name in, but it’s a full house," Comly said. "There are 171 people there and a waiting list of 78."
Though Malatesta encountered medical problems within the last year, he continued to attend advisory board meetings for the Delaware Valley home.
"He never let anybody down. He was always there to help," Comly said. "He was a joiner and a worker. He was very much depended on. They’ll never get anybody to pick up (the slack) like he did.
"He was one of the greatest friends you could ever have." ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com