Olive Brown started mopping floors at Sharon General Hospital as a way to get health insurance.

"I never intended to stay," she said.

But the job turned into a way to meet people and work in the community.

"It's been a 28-year honeymoon," she said Sunday at her retirement church service at Greater Mount Zion Church of God in Christ, Farrell.

The Farrell woman worked her way up at the hospital to being executive director of the Minority Health Center and founding member of Endorse Resistance of All Substance Abuse Everywhere.

Ms. Brown wanted her retirement party to be held in church because she got the job through church members Vivian Baker and Supt. Wilbert G. Hadden, who were involved in the On the Job Training program at the Shenango Valley Urban League.

Ms. Brown she owes her reputation as a community advocate to getting hired at what is now Sharon Regional Health System.

"Without that job, I don't know where I would have been," she said. "In my bad times, that job was my good times. They paid me to have fun."

She's announced her retirement at a critical time for both Minority Health and ERASE: the hospital has dropped its affiliation with Minority Health Center -- Mercer County Behavioral Health Center is taking it over -- and ERASE is losing coordinator Yolanda Cooper, who is joining the Pennsylvania State University Talent Search.

Ms. Brown will stay on with both organizations until Minority Health hires a replacement for her and she finds a replacement for Ms. Cooper.

In retirement, she will be no less visible, although she hopes it will free up her time to do more of what she wants.

"I will be freer to work with other agencies," said the Farrell councilwoman-elect. "I can work with other people. It will be a fresh start."

"Ollie is an example of someone who has given back to the community," said Michaelene Gula, director of the Women 's Center at Sharon Regional.

Ms. Gula doubted Ms. Brown was actually retiring.

"What is really going on is Ollie Brown is moving onto something else. Ollie Brown is not retiring anytime soon."

Friend Sonya Boatwright said Ms. Brown is a role model.

"I can't be like you but I can strive (to be)," she said.

Doris DeForest, who has known "Ollie Mae" since Ms. Brown was 3, credits Ms. Brown's mother, Emmy Lou Ward, with instilling many of the qualities people admire in Ms. Brown.

Ms. Ward cleaned homes in Sharon, and had her daughter tag along with her. Although she could not read or write, Ms. Ward was intelligent, Ms. DeForest said, and taught her daughter respect, hard work and discipline.

"Starting out in humble circumstances, I think your family heritage has carried you far," Ms. DeForest said.

Ms. Brown's energy is infectious, and she has a way of rejuvenating those around her, said former Sharon Mayor Robert T. Price.

"I remember one time I put on a hula skirt for the pastor," said friend Laverne Peterson. "She can make you do things."

That quality, coupled with her hard work, brought Weed and Seed to Farrell and Sharon. The state-funded program allows increased law enforcement for high-crime areas, and institutes activities and programs to keep crime from taking root again.

Mercer County District Attorney James P. Epstein said law enforcement agencies judge their effectiveness by the number of arrests and the amount of drugs and guns they confiscate.

A true measure of law enforcement is incidentless nights and people who can move about the community without fear, he said.

"That's the single most effective program we have ever put in place," Epstein said.

Ms. Brown, a mother of five, grandmother of 13 and great-grandmother of two, said she "just want(s) to keep on reaching out," particularly to young people.

"It's rough out here with these young kids," she said.