When Fiorella Mirabito-Reginelli started school in Bath, she did not speak English.

Mirabito-Reginelli, who was chosen by voters to serve as Bath Borough's next mayor, was bon in Teramo, Italy.

"All my parents brought from Italy were two suitcases and I had a doll in hand," said the only child in the family.

She and her parents, Ennio and Maria Reginelli, moved from Italy to Bethlehem in 1968. They were sponsored by her great-uncle Vincent Fantozzi to travel to America to work. Fantozzi was the owner of Mary Fashion Manufacture Co. Inc.

That same year, the family moved to Bath. Her father worked in construction while her mother served as a seamstress at the family factory.

Mirabito-Reginelli said her grasp of English improved by the second grade with the help of good teachers at the George Wolf Elementary School. In fact, she even acted as a translator, helping school officials and new Italian immigrants in fifth and sixth grade to understand each other.

Former Principal Kermit Fehnel addressed her as "my little Italian girl," she said.

In 1980 Mirabito-Reginelli attend Northampton Area High School where she participated in many high school clubs. It was there that she met her husband, Manny Mirabito.

In 1988 the couple bought property on East Northampton Street and become owners of My Place Pizza Restaurant, which is now celebrating 25 years.

On June 2, 1998 Mirabito-Reginelli became a U.S. citizen.

"This country has so much to offer – and, to think my parents brought me here for a better life – still gives me goose bumps," she told The Press.

The Mirabitos are very active in the Bath community. Manny Mirabito served as a Bath Borough councilman for 11 years. Fiorella Mirabito-Reginelli has volunteered with the Bath Youth Club, Bath Crime Watch, Bath Lioness, Sacred Heart Church Women's Guild, Sacred Heart School and the Bath 275th Anniversary Committee.

In 2008 Fiorella Mirabito-Reginelli was written in on the ballot as a candidate for a seat on the Bath Borough Council. She won the nomination and served on council for two years.

However, she resigned her seat in 2010 because of a breast cancer diagnosis. Today, as a cancer survivor, she said, it is important to share her experiences with other women.

She served four years as co-chair of the 275th Bath Anniversary Committee during which time she and co-chair Barry Fenstermaker raised $71,000. The group spent about $61,000 for the anniversary celebration.

Mirabito-Reginelli remembers living near the late Bath Mayor Archie Leigh.

"I was very young and impressed by all the people, the memorabilia and the stories he told me," she said. "One day while looking through all of his things with him, I said 'Archie, maybe one day, I can be mayor, too!'"

He responded, "I would be very proud of you, my little Italian girl."

As the future Bath mayor, Mirabito-Reginelli looks forward to working with the borough council and borough manager, tending to the health and safety of citizens and assisting council with cleaning up abandoned and neglected properties.

"We live in a small community, with problems and issues that many larger municipalities have, so we must face them together and with fortitude," she says.

Mirabito-Reginelli is proud of her two children. Antonio Guiseppe Mirabito is a teacher at Hanover Elementary School in the Bethlehem Area School District. Nicholas Serafino Mirabito is a senior at Bethlehem Catholic High School who anticipates studying sports medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.

As a young immigrant child Mirabito-Reginelli remembers that her father wanted to provide the best life for his daughter.

"To this day he has," she says.

Mirabito-Reginelli will be sworn in as Bath Borough mayor Jan. 6 by Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano. There ceremony will take place in Bath Borough Council chambers.