on Thursday, 08 March 2012 in Company Stories '; var endspan =''; var a ='<a href="http://edwardsvillehomes.com/jeh/index.php/market-watch/market-blog/featuring-the-mitchell-family.html###url###">'; var enda ='</a>'; <div><span>We're spotlig</span><span><span><img alt="Nancy and Chris 1" src="http://edwardsvillehomes.com/jeh/images/Nancy_and_Chris_1.jpg" height="67" width="91" /></span></span><span>hting all 3 members of the Mitchell family this issue, Nancy, Christopher....and Ron.  The timely news is that Christopher is back with us, and now is also President of the local board of realtors.  </span><span><span> Many of you would already know Nancy Jo, as she was the agent for many of you.   So you would also know that she's an important part of our O'Fallon office, and has earned many deserved credits.<br /></span></span></div><br /><img alt="Nancy and Chris 1" src="http://edwardsvillehomes.com/jeh/images/Nancy_and_Chris_1.jpg" height="94" width="133" />But before we get to that, the timely news is that her son, Christopher has not only returned to our company, but is currently serving as President of the local real estate board....RASI, the Realor Association of Southwestern Illinois, affectionately known for years, through several names, as "The Belleville Board".   In 2011, he was named "Realtor of the Year" from that board, and received a great deal of publicity.    Now he has the highest office in the organization. <p>We're most pleased with his hanging his license here.  In the practice of exclusive buyer representation, he has been tutored by Nancy Jo, so starts with a great background.   But he's also exercising an independent accumulation of practical knowledge, wide-ranging acquaintances and an awes<span><span></span></span><span><span>ome sen</span></span><span><span><img alt="Chris Installation 014 Small" src="http://edwardsvillehomes.com/jeh/images/Chris_Installation_014_Small.jpg" height="480" width="339" /></span></span><span><span>se of humor.  And he's a "pleasant lad", as I like to say,  So we're enjoying his first months here and look forward to his participation into the fut</span></span><span><span></span></span><span><span>ure.</span></span></p><p> In the meantime, he's incredibly busy with the duties of his office as president of the board, and seems to be at meetings most of the time.  He also travels a lot, throughout Illinois and on a couple of occasions, to national venues, representing the board and its 750+ members, and he's involved at the state and national levels with committee work.  There he has a special interest, with great visibility, in YPN, a new national organization of realtors-under-35, the "Young Professionals Network".  He serves as Vice Chair of Illinois' Rebac, (the organization's political action committee,) on the Illinois Diversity Committee, and has been chosen as one of only 12 state wide into a "Illinois Leadership Development" program.  Very much at home at the podium, he's beecome an accomplished master of ceremonies.

And he knows "everybody", it seems....realtor members of RASI and SW Illinois business leaders, all good for us, too.  It's a big credit to our smallish agency to have him here....and of course we're proud, even as we look forward to having a bit more of his time spent on company business.

Christopher has, by the way, a bona fide "Chef", with a degree in Culinary Art, from the Boston International Culinary College, studying even in Ireland for an extended period. Obviously, he originally intended a different career, but was drawn back here, and is a great buyer's agent.   But the dishes he prepares and brings for lunch on occasion are also mouth-watering, a most becoming second talent....tied in fact, with his Irish brogue.

Well, the appple didn't fall far from the tree...and mother, Nancy Jo continues to provide top service and gather credits herself.  A couple of weeks ago, we told of her again being a 5-Star winner of an independent St. Louis area study, placing her in the top 7% of all St. Louis area agents in "client satisfaction". 

Performed by an independent agency for St. Louis Magazine, it will be announced in that magazine in their April issue.  She's a perennial winner there, along with Paul and Denise from our company.  It's especially significant because it recognizes exactly what we intend with our service, credit for doing it right, we feel. 

She's been with us since the beginning, with just a little time off, serving in the neighborhood of 700 families with exclusive representation.   She's always done a wonderfully professional, conscientious job for us as the consummate buyer's agent. 

She's also served for many years on the Ethics Committee of our local board of Realtors, participation we're proud of.....you can imagine that members of this special committee are chosen with great care.

She's also a perennial winner of local production awards, especially significant since she competes against many teams, and because she only serves one side of every transaction. So, even in a down market she's been doing OK, in large part due to those of you out there that were her clients.  She enjoys great referrals, which we all view as among the finest compliments received, and a most precious gift to us.

But that's not quite all from the Mitchell family. Chris' father, Nancy's husband, Ron, a professional musician and former area school teacher, plays outstanding trumpet in several area bands, and he's become a professional photographer.   He helps with our pictures and has supplied practically all of the group photos we use. And beyond pleasant himself.

On the evening in 2011 where Christopher was named "Realtor of the Year", Ron played in the "big band" providing entertainment for the event, and performed a lovely solo on "Stardust".   Because Nancy Jo also received a production award that night, it indeed could have been called, "The Mitchell Evening".

(Finally, as we prepare for St. Patrick's Day, 2 weeks hence, we do need to recognize that the Mitchell family has the richest Irish background....Nancy's nee name was "Murphy".  And Chris' brogue was mentioned above. That beats the gross manipulation the Ottwein family requires on St. Pat's day, where we become O'Tweins for the day.)

Altogether, the Mitchell family is an important part of us.   We've posted the following stories on our web sites as shown:

1)     A version of this is posted under "Company Stories", right menu, under Stories.

2)     A short story about Nancy on the Rooftop was posted under Company Stories.

3)     There's a short note about Ron Mitchell's trumpet being grabbed by an irate Bosten Terrier also in the Stories section, Company Stories, titled, "No Music

Nancy Jo has several stories she's preparing, but this one is still mine, because I witnessed it.   What makes it so memorable is that it is so completely out of character!

Nancy Jo was showing a home not too far from our O'Fallon office several years ago....winterish out....near Christmas, so she was wearing her long red coat, making it still more unlikely.

And I cannot remember exactly what she called for, but she did, with a "My client isn't here yet, but will be any moment, and since it's so close to the office, I know you won't mind running their file to me....it's right on top of my desk waiting for me!"   And that was followed by too many "Thank you so much!" statements that the sincerely was diminished quite some.    But she knew I wouldn't mind, and the office was otherwise covered, so she was playing with me, of course.

So it was done, and when I drove up, this is what I saw.   With my "Everready" camera, I shot the picture just as I was getting out of the car.

Nancy Jo on a ladder?   That's not possible....but it was the scene I saw.

The owner wasn't home of course, obeying the listing agent's requirement, probably.  So when Nancy Jo was going up the front sidewalk, she saw the evening paper lying there.   Forever trying to be helpful, she picked up the tigtly wrapped paper and gave it a hefty under handed  pitch toward the porch, intending for it to fall somewhere near the front door.

But another in the series of unlikely events, the paper sailed onto the roof....quite some feet from the edge, in fact.

Now I can probably see these mental gymnastics better than you, there's a long historical pattern.  The bottom line was that Nancy Jo was not about to admit to anybody that she wildly pitched the evening paper on the roof, causing the owner to 1) get a ladder and 2) go up and get it.

And forever resourceful, she did find a ladder in the neighbor's back yard, requested its temporary use, and placed it where she surely could get at that darned paper and never have to admit it to anybody.

So enter Merrill with his Everready!    And so this picture....titled, "Caught!"

Well she was able to get the paper, with the help of a broom handle that she wisely had gathered before the ascent.   Of course she wouldn't let me help....threatened me with a broom, in fact!

And of course, my lips were sealed....until now.   And she even beat the client to the front door...mission accomplished!

All real estate agents, given some experience in the field, have stories, just as you probably have in your profession, we would suppose. No... on second thought, there are a few more here than let's say, working on an assembly line. It's obviously the `people" part of it! More will, follow this starter soon....all our agents are getting them ready. This one is Paul's. (Before you read it, you need this word from Paul’s pop: Paul’s a near believer in fact, of the paranormal, making the following more understandable, and according to Paul, spookier! Go, Martha, Go (Paul seems to be a "lightning rod" for weird involvements... .here's the first of several.) Paul Ottwein is a partner in the Home Relo firm, and has some interesting; hobbies. He is a Civil War buff-, a crossword puzzle wizard, and he collects and reads ghost stories, especially about local sightings. He's probably in the category of "believer", which would set him up for the following experience.

A few years ago, Paul had some clients in the market for an older home to renovate. The couple was, let's be kind, say "different". The husband rode a big adult tricycle around town...big front wheel with pedals directly on the axel. The wife, Martha, was a very robust woman who claimed to have psychic abilities... certainly more than a strong interest.

Since he considered them a bit strange, Paul was already a little uneasy about spending time with them during their search for a home...but, green is still green! After they started their search, "uneasiness" became a weak word, because Martha was definitely looking for a home with "good spirits" in it. Now that qualifier isn't one of the categories in the multiple listing service, he suggested, so it was a matter of testing by entering and letting Martha turn her receptors on. Whatever she did, as Paul suggested, he felt "spooks" in every old house he entered, if he stopped to think about it. His receptors had a hair-trigger and put a spin on every creak!

After several days of going through and rejecting house after house, they found what they all believed was a likely candidate. It was an old brick bungalow on the edge of town. They looked through all of the rooms on the main floor and all of the bedrooms upstairs. All of that was a pretty good fit. Several times during the tour, Martha mentioned feeling some "presence" in the empty old house...on the positive side. Paul was tempted to let his guard down a bit..."we may have come to the end of the search." Let's suggest he may have lowered his "Red Alert" regarding psychic phenomena to a mere "Yellow Alert". But he couldn't eliminate the apprehensions completely. He couldn't feel anything different about the house, but respectful of Martha's "gift", he watched her even more carefully. (That and, he was hoping to end the ordeal of the search "one of those days"....it was getting to be an exhausting circumstance.)

So the couple decided they needed to investigate the basement, with the announcement that spirits often occupied only the basements. That was back to "Red Alert" for Paul, and goose-pimples stood at the ready as they descended the narrow, uneven steps. And did we mention "dimly lit?” It seemed the lights only turned on with a pull chain at the bottom of' the steps, not yet reached. It was as if a dark half-lit, man-cave was being entered.

Paul, courageously, was first. Close behind was Martha, followed by her husband. Paul then describes the descent on the steep, wooden, narrow stairs as slow and measured, as he waited step by step for some light or a subtle sign from Martha, whichever came first...but certainly not expecting this to follow:

Well, it's Paul's story, but he says, with lowered voice, "Just as my right foot touched down onto the damp basement floor, Martha let out the most blood curdling scream I had ever heard!" Which triggered an immediately following, even louder scream from Paul. Whirling frantically, he shouted whatever might have been appropriately inquisitive; he says he doesn't remember exactly what. Martha, however, was still exhaling the elongated scream, and without taking a breath, managed "There are evil spirits here!" in a loud, hoarse under-the-breath pronouncement, like she expected "them", whatever they were, not to be able to hear her. Then, "We must leave!"

Already she had turned to head up the steps.. .pushing on her gaping-mouthed husband, who seemed a bit slow on the pickup of the whole scene. Paul confesses to losing it. At last he had found the place for the ultimate panic attack, and it was on those stairs. Goose-pimples made his collar too tight to breathe and they popped out everywhere. He looked toward the open door at the top of the steps, the light all but blocked out by Martha and her husband, now in full flight themselves, but way, way too slowly for Paul. More than intuition told him they were in his way....blocking his escape from the now identified evil spirits!

Instinctively, Paul knew the only thing between him and the exit was one very large woman and her smaller husband, who really didn't count. Her hips, filling the width, would not allow passing her on either side, or he would have done that. So he took the only path he could. Slightly bent forward at the waist, head down, elbows locked, each palm planted firmly on each of Martha's buttocks and legs spinning like some cartoon character, he pushed Martha to the top of' the steps, screaming the whole way, "Go, Martha, Go!"

And he didn't quit when Martha and her husband reached the top. Unable to keep up with Paul's thrust, they went sprawling on the floor at the top of the stairs. Hurtling that impediment, he stepped over their considerable pile of prostrate bodies and was still the first one out! They gathered behind his car, competing still but now for the door handles.

Paul called off the search for that day, and was shaken for days. Obviously, he never went back into that home, but eventually recovered enough to call Martha and her husband, even helping them buy a home. The couple never mentioned the incident. And Paul didn't even mention it to them. But he still talks about it to others, and of course, none of his family or friends allows Paul to forget the incident, either.

Nancy Jo Mitchell's husband, Ron, is an accomplished trumpet player and a really nice guy, (as well as Christopher's father.)  In fact, he's accomplished in many instruments, and while retired from actively teaching instrumental music, he is still very active in the community musically, playing in several bands and as a soloist.  He's also an accomplished photographer, and supplied many of the photos in these web sites, especially the BellevilleIL site..

Here, a few years ago, Ron was playing his trumpet with the football band for Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, (before he knew Nancy Jo.) 

The picture shows a Boston Terrior, who was shadowing Ron down the field for some yards, yapping, and waiting, obviously for his chance to get at Ron's trumpet, somehow offending either his canine musicality or his hearing.   But when the formation called for Ron to kneel down on one knee, the dog took his only chance at shutting down the offending cause of his distress and did not miss. . 

The picture shows him clearly hanging onto the bell, and a nearby photographer, always at-the-ready, snapped the picture.  He was the happiest character of all!

Now that's a good enough story as it is, but even more remarkably, the picture was published in Life Magazine.   So Ron had his shot at musical glory, (and the dog had his shot at revenge!)

It is, of course, a neat personal historic anecdote, backed up with a picture!   A picture published in Life, no less!