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Longtime agent
takes over real
estate office
By Joy Leiker
Herald Staff Writer
Nearly every business ven-
ture on Norma Struthers’ re-
sume involves a home.
She sells them. She re-
stores them. She’s even op-
erated a bed and breakfast
inside one.
It may seem natural that
she’s the owner of the Re-
Max franchise in her home-
town of Mercer. But she said
never in a million years did
she expect to be where she
is today.
“It’s unreal. God is leading
me. It’s amazing to start your
life over again,” Mrs. Struth-
ers said.
She took over ownership
of the real estate office Sept.
19, just seven months after
she started working there.
Before that, the Mercer
High graduate spent 14
years selling houses for
Howard Hanna. She’s happy
for that experience, but it
was during her time there
that she became ill and faced
a brain tumor scare that last-
ed two years. It was during
those difficult days she con-
templated quitting the real
estate business entirely.
But then she was asked to
consider making the move to
ReMax in Mercer. She had
turned down the offer before,
but said for some reason it
felt right this time. She made
the leap, and it quickly
evolved into her taking over
the business.
Mrs. Struthers said she
and her husband John often
look at each other and ask,
“Did this really happen?”
It did. And for the woman
who also considered opening
a retail store, she looks at
her real estate business with
that retail eye.
“It’s like owning my own
business and my inventory is
all out there,” she said, point-
ing through the large, new
windows of her office on
Beaver Street, once the site
of the Rose Terrace Restau-
rant.
Working from a building
that looks like a house – but
rarely has been used as one
– is just another of those
homey touches that Mrs.
Struthers likes so much.
There are no cubicles here,
and even with desks and
telephones ready for more
agents, the largest room
feels like a living room.
Filling those empty desks
is Mrs. Struthers’ next big
project, so she’s recruiting
other agents to join her and
Rod McClelland, a broker
and agent, and Jacque Mc-
Clelland, an agent and assis-
tant.
Because so much of the
real estate world is built on
referrals and relationships,
Mrs. Struthers said she feels
especially fortunate to work
in her hometown, though
she helps buyers and sellers
all over Mercer County.
She can see the court-
house from her office win-
dow and is just a short walk
from the spot inside Mercer
Area Junior-Senior High
School where she and her
husband met and started dat-
ing as students. She was in
seventh grade, and he was in
eighth grade. Now the cou-
ple’s two adult children live
nearby, and they are expect-
ing their third grandchild
next month.
If this is a miniature ver-
sion of her circle of life, Mrs.
Struthers said it mirrors the
larger, full circle that keeps
the county’s real estate busi-
ness ticking. She doesn’t
think any one business or in-
dustry drives the local mar-
ket.
“Where we are it stays
steady mainly because of the
circle of life,” she said, not-
ing there’s always a new
first-time home buyer, or
family who’s outgrown its
starter home, or senior citi-
zen who’s selling to move
into a care facility.
“We’re just a steady com-
munity. Things slow down
here but it’s not dead,” Mrs.
Struthers said.
Amity Messett
has spent career
making others’
lives a bit better
By Lauren Mylo
Herald Staff Writer
She oversaw a successful
community center in Sharon,
runs the Mercer County Ju-
venile Advisory Council and
advocates for children daily.
If that weren’t enough,
Amity Messett was recently
appointed to a three-year
term on the Northwest Re-
gional Citizens Review panel,
which reviews Children and
Youth Services policies and
procedures and makes rec-
ommendations to the state
annually.
“Finding a balance is real-
ly difficult, and I couldn’t do
it without my husband,” she
said. “But when something is
your mission it makes it
much easier to find the time
... Plus I enjoy it. I couldn’t
do it if I didn’t enjoy helping
people in general.”
The 41-year-old Mercer
resident has worked with chil-
dren in the county since 1994,
at first volunteering with the
non-profit Court Appointed
Special Advocate program.
She oversees the program
now as head of the Juvenile
Advisory Council and worked
there full-time since 2007.
“When I found out about
the program, it was some-
thing I felt like I should do,”
she said.
The CASA program,
which receives its funding
from the United Way of Mer-
cer County, deals with de-
pendency or custody cases if
Children and Youth Services
or a judge refers them.
“We make sure the child
receives all the services that
they need,” she said. “We’re
kind of appointed to make
sure children don’t fall
through the cracks.”
Recently, she worked with
the older siblings of two-
month-old Isaac Rabold in
Greenville, who died after his
parents, Michael Rabold and
Royanne Darr, left him out-
side in the cold.
Even though she works
with difficult situations daily,
she said that case shook her.
The most severe cases go
to her, but she also oversees
the volunteers.
“We’re one of the very
few, in fact the only, program
where citizens are trained to
be volunteers,” she said.
After working with CASA
in the mid-1990s, she worked
from 1995 to 1997 starting
the Quinby Service Center in
Sharon through the Mercer
County Housing Authority
under DeWitt Boosel along
with many other organiza-
tions like the Primary Health
Network, Sharon and Farrell
Area school districts,
AWARE, the Urban League
and the Prince of Peace Cen-
ter.
With the COPS – Commu-
nity Oriented Policing Ser-
vices – program in place, the
area was safe and thriving,
she remembers.
“I was never concerned,
never worried, everyone felt
safe,” she said. “I was very
disappointed when that
(COPS) program was cut …
When that area lost that
presence it started back-slid-
ing again.”
The center, which has
since been torn down, won
many awards after she left,
and she’s still very proud of
her work there.
“It was definitely one of
the high points of my ca-
reer,” she said.
In the future, she said
she’d like to get more volun-
teers for the CASA program
and expand into more areas
of child advocacy.
She said sh
like to help in t
Valley, where t
recent surge in
gated by young
Working wit
agencies thro
years has opene
work to many
ganizations, she
“I think that’s
Mercer County
because there’s
… so much coll
tween agencies,
Outlook
Sunday,
February 1
Sharon, Pennsyl
F
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It’s hard to determine where Amity Messett finds the energy for her work with various local social services. “When something
sion it makes it much easier to find the time ...,” she said. “Plus I enjoy it. I couldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy helping people in gen
MERCER COUNTY
Working for the kids
MERCER
MERCER CO
Norma Struthers feels right at home
By Jeff Gree
Public Informatio
Mercer County
On the go is
ate phrase for
ty government,
ly focused in on
2012 in the wa
tion year
that saw sig-
n i f i c a n t
turnover in
its elected
officials.
Taking a seat
ty seat for the
Common Pleas
G. Yeatts, C
Matthew B. Mc
thonotary Rut
Recorder of D
Zickar and Sh
Hartman, who e
tinue the good
were put in pl
predecessors a
ideas to those
der to keep th
the go.”
That quint
long-standing p
Francis J. Forn
Ammann, Liz
McClelland and
respectively, a
courthouse vete
dent Judge Tho
son, Judge Jo
Judge Christop
Commissioner
John Lechner,
er Brian Bead
T
O
A
p
Contributed
Norma Struthers believes a divine hand lead her to an unexpected move into ownership of a real estate office.
Coun
gov’t
to sta
on th
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