Broker known for work ethic

1/12/2005

BOWLING GREEN - Mearl Maidment, a gregarious broker and auctioneer known for his work ethic and gift for gab, died Sunday in Woodhaven Health Care here. He was 84.

Mr. Maidment died of respiratory failure, family members said.

Born the 11th child of rural Portage, Ohio, farmers, Mr. Maidment grew up raising cattle and grain crops on his family farm.

In 1941, he joined the Army Air Corps as an airplane mechanic and was stationed in England during World War II. He was discharged in 1945 with the rank of sergeant.

Returning to Portage, Mr. Maidment tended several Portage-area farms, before getting his auctioneer license in the 1950s.

"He was a real conversationalist and enjoyed people," said his daughter, Ruth Ann Kramer.

The auction business also opened up new possibilities. In 1966 Mr. Maidment obtained a brokerage license and immediately opened Maidment Realty and Auction in Bowling Green.

He was first in the area to start the practice of the brokerage of real estate at public auction.

Mr. Maidment closed his business in 1985, worked for a while at A.A. Green Realty in Bowling Green, and later became a courier for Mid-Am Bank, now known as SkyBank, traveling from bank to bank across northwest Ohio.

"He just loved that courier job - I mean loved it," his daughter said. "He made so many friends doing it."

Still, Mr. Maidment always missed farming and occasionally would help others in the family get their crop in. "As soon as he saw the combine roll out, he was in the field," his daughter said. "It was in the blood."

Mr. Maidment was a member of Christ United Methodist Church in Portage, American Legion Post 45, and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1148; former president of the Bowling Green Exchange Club, and former president of Wood County Board of Realtors.

"He was a simple man, with no special airs about him. He just had a strong work ethic, and people recognized that," his daughter said.

Surviving are his wife, Marjorie; sons, Daniel and Richard; daughters, Ruth Ann Kramer and Dorothy Robasser, and eight grandchildren.

Visitation will be after 2 p.m. today at Dunn Funeral Home, and at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Christ United Methodist Church, followed by services at 11 a.m.

The family suggests tributes to the church.