MERCER COUNTY

Senior Judge John Q. Stranahan, 79, dies

John Q. Stranahan raised his right hand in 1966 to take the oath for the first of two 10-year terms as a Mercer County Common Pleas Court judge.

The tall, droll-voiced former district attorney turned to the audience and said, "It is my hope that with the help of God and with a lot of hard work and with the desire to do those things that are right, I can fulfill the trust and confidence placed in me by the people of Mercer County."

Within an hour after taking the oath, the new judge began hearing cases. He didn’t end his service to the courts or to the community until his final months.

Stranahan died Friday of cancer at Buchanan Commons, Grove City. He was 79.

His colleagues attested Stranahan was true to the words he spoke 34 years ago.

"He was an excellent judge. Nobody ever questioned his integrity or his intellect," said Donald R. McKay, a veteran Sharon lawyer.

"He was a very courageous judge. He never backed down on what he thought was the law," said Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael J. Wherry, who was a defense attorney in trials before Stranahan.

Judge Stranahan left a legacy of "absolute integrity," said District Attorney James P. Epstein. His passing and the passing of Judge Albert E. Acker marked the end of a era in Mercer County jurisprudence, he said.

"It was a court system that was directed by judges learned in the law and with integrity."

"He had a good sense of the law, so his ruling from the bench, seemingly on the fly, was very direct," said Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Francis J. Fornelli. Stranahan administered the oath to Fornelli when he joined the bar in 1966.

"You always had to be prepared when you were sent before John Stranahan, or you’d better be," Fornelli said.

Stranahan’s dry and droll wit could quickly deflate a young lawyer’s pompous and pretentious presentation, Fornelli said, adding he was a stickler for courtroom decorum and proper procedures.

"John didn’t tell you what was popular, but what ought to be," Fornelli said.

"He had a way of correcting you, and you never, ever would do it again," Epstein said.

"He was a very good trial judge probably because he was a very good trial lawyer," Wherry said.

As district attorney from 1955 to 1964, Stranahan gained a reputation as a tough, aggressive prosecutor, McKay said.

"When he first went on the bench, he was elected as a law and order judge," Wherry said. "He was a good judge, but he was not considered to be an agent of the commonwealth. He was very independent."

In the late 1960s, Stranahan was an early supporter for what is now the state Regional Correctional Facility in Findley Township, said former county commissioner and Mercer Mayor John G. "Jerry" Johnson.

The area needed a state prison because the closest penitentiary was in Pittsburgh, Johnson said, noting it would benefit the local economy by creating jobs.

But Stranahan had to withstand public criticism for his backing of the regional jail, Fornelli said.

Stranahan organized a committee that raised $20,000 to move a shuttered Stuckey’s restaurant to become the regional jail’s interdenominational chapel.

"He was a strong anti-crime DA and judge, but he also was trying to rehabilitate these people," Fornelli said.

Stranahan stayed active with the chapel committee, the courts, church and the community until he was diagnosed with cancer earlier this summer, Johnson said.

As a senior judge after his retirement from the bench in 1985, Stranahan was called on to hear difficult and controversial cases because of his grasp of the law, Fornelli said.

Stranahan took an active interest in the recent restoration of the courthouse and the county bicentennial this year, Johnson said. Stranahan helped man the county bicentennial office until his cancer was discovered.

"You could always count on him," Fornelli said.