David Kanally first realized that he was a look-alike for Bradford Mayor Tom Riel a few years ago when he walked into restaurants in the community and was greeted with “Hi Tommy.”

Kanally, a resident of Coppell, Texas, is mistaken for the mayor several times a year when he visits his 92-year-old mother, Ann Kanally, a resident of the Bradford Ecumenical Home.

Kanally, who is somewhat older than Riel but bears a strong resemblance to the mayor, has learned to take the mistaken identity with tolerance and a touch of humor.

“I’ve been greeted as ‘Tom’ or ‘Tommy’ not only here at the Ecumenical Home, but also at Perkins and Tim Horton’s,” Kanally said of local restaurants. “Also, one day last year in the Perkins parking lot after lunch, I gave my wife a big kiss right on the lips, thinking we might start a rumor!”

A native of Port Allegany, Kanally is a 1970 graduate of Port Allegany High School and Penn State University. During half of his career, he worked for the Walt Disney Company, first in Florida, then in France for the opening of Disneyland Paris. He then worked for 14 years for Perot Systems Corporation, owned by the late Ross Perot, first in Europe and then in Texas until his retirement in 2007. His wife, Cheryl, also graduated from Port Allegany High School in 1970, and they have two grown sons, one of whom works in the film industry in Los Angeles, and the other who serves in the U.S. Navy.

Kanally said he and his wife visit the area several times a year to see his mother, and his 96-year-old father, who still lives in Port Allegany, as well as Cheryl’s mother in Port Allegany.

“I have a lot of respect for my doppelganger (German term for look-alike) for choosing to go into public service as the mayor of Bradford,” Kanally remarked.

For his part, Riel said he had heard from people who said, “‘There’s a guy who looks like you’ and they had seen him around town, at Perkins, I think, often in the last year or two.”

Riel said he hopes that Kanally’s experiences from being misidentified as the mayor have been positive.

“People do come up to me and actually say positive things,” Riel added. “I hope (Kanally) has fun with it. If I ever need a stand-in, I’ll look him up — and maybe some time when he’s in town, we’ll go to lunch.”