Ledger Archive: Love story started with USAir Flight 427 plane crash

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was reposted Sept. 8, 2022, to remember the 28th anniversary of the crash of USAir Flight 427.

This is a love story about two people who fell in love and will be married at Queen of Heaven Catholic Church in Koppel on June 26.

The story is not as simple as it sounds. The two people were both from Ellwood City but had not lived there for many years and didn't know each other when they did. They fell in love at the perfect time in their lives.

Thirty years ago, Regina Pecoraro, now 51, was a nurse at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh when a mutual friend introduced her to Frank Santamaria. They met, fell in love and married on Nov. 6, 1982, and had two daughters, Elisa and Cara, but they did not get to live happily ever after.

On Sept. 8, 1994, Frank Santamaria was killed in the USAir Flight 427 crash, and the family was devastated.

"No matter how distressed or overwhelmed I was, I had two small daughters to raise," Regina Santamaria said.

Daughter Elisa, now 23, said her mother devoted her time and energy to raising her and her sister, Cara, now 21.

"She raised us with the same strong Catholic morals and Italian traditions that she had been raised with," Elisa said. "Finding a man never entered her mind."

A few years after the crash, Santamaria's sister, Marisa, arranged for a personal trainer to come to Santamaria's home to work with her to help her feel better.

That trainer and physical therapist was Bill Shuttleworth, now 53.

"Bill was very nice and helpful to my mother," Elisa said. "There was an instant attraction between them, but they were in two different places in their lives."

At that time, Santamaria was busy raising her daughters, and Shuttleworth was working and going to school. For the next 12 years, they would bump into each other or go on a date once in a while, but it was not a serious relationship.

But one Sunday last May, Santamaria was attending her niece Ariana Kelly's confirmation in Ellwood City. It was a surprise to see that Shuttleworth was also there. It had been years since they had seen each other, but Cara encouraged her mother to go over and say hello to him.

"When I spoke to Bill, I knew something had changed between us," Santamaria said. "We went out to dinner and we saw each other in a different light than we had over the past 12 years."

"They began dating, and we could all see a new, wonderful change in both of them, and we were all excited," Elisa said.

"Later, Bill said that at the confirmation ceremony he had resolved to himself that maybe finding a good, Catholic woman to spend his life with may not happen for him," Elisa said.

In late October, Shuttleworth told Elisa and Cara that he wanted to ask their mother to marry him. They were so happy and excited that they could only say yes. Shuttleworth also asked Santamaria's father, Elio Pecoraro, and he, too, was excited and said, "Of course."

Santamaria said the engagement was a bit of a surprise because although they had talked about getting engaged, she expected it to happen at Christmastime.

On the pretense of taking her out for a celebration, when Santamaria walked down the stairs, Shuttleworth stopped her, got down on one knee and asked her to be his wife. It was the exact place he had met her 12 years before.

Unbeknownst to Shuttleworth, it was Nov. 6, the same day that 27 years before, she had married Frank Santamaria.

"They are both so strong in their faith that they believe my father was there guiding them and smiling down on them," Elisa said.

"I knew it was God's timing," Regina Santamaria said. "God brought us together at this time in our lives. Bill is very spiritual and very kind."

Shuttleworth, who was born and raised in Philadelphia, came to Ellwood City in time to attend Lincoln High School for his senior year, graduating in 1974. Santamaria, a daughter of Elio and Amalia Parente Pecoraro, grew up in Ellwood City. She graduated from Lincoln High School in 1976 and attended St. Francis School of Nursing in New Castle, graduating from there in 1979.

Both live in Allegheny County now, Santamaria in Hampton Township and Shuttleworth in McCandless Township.

"I miss Ellwood City and I love to visit there," Santamaria said. "I particularly love Ewing Park, and I remember so much fun there, swimming, picnics just lots of memories."

Santamaria said they are getting married in Koppel but will be taking their wedding pictures in Ellwood City, perhaps in Ewing Park.

Louise Carroll can be reached online at wlc@verizon.net.

This article originally appeared on Ellwood City Ledger: Love story startedwith plane crash