Author Cathy Ostrum Swarmer believes that the stories of ordinary people who live interesting and fulfilling lives should be documented for future generations.

Swarmer is the founder and executive director of Hometown Mentors Inc. (HMI), a nonprofit charity founded in Emporium, a rural town located in Cameron County in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania. Swarmer's first book in a series about residents of Emporium is titled "The Essays of the Real and Unknown: The Story of Ruth Ann Kronenwetter Lathrop" and focuses on Ruth Lathrop, a resident of the Tel Hai Retirement Community in Honey Brook.

"I interviewed Ruth over the last four or five years when I visited her at home and at Tel Hai," said Swarmer. "Ruth is my late mother's first cousin, so I've known her all my life."

The book details Lathrop's life through storytelling and photos, which were provided by Lathrop's niece and daughter-in-law.

Lathrop was born in 1934 and attended Pennsylvania State University. She graduated in 1956; she was also selected as the homecoming queen that year. She and her family, including her husband, John, who was a dentist, relocated to West Chester and, in 1969, she was selected as an Outstanding Young Woman of America by the Junior Century Club of West Chester.

Lathrop worked for the American Red Cross in West Chester. Later in life, she became a prominent real estate agent in Elverson. "I was the marketing manager for Stoltzfus Enterprises, and they developed the community known as Summerfield," Lathrop explained. For her efforts, she won the Pyramid Award from the Home Builders Association as the Best Salesperson in Chester and Delaware counties in 1993.

The book documents Lathrop's jobs, which included teaching crafts on a cruise ship and working as a physical education teacher at a high school, where she also coached field hockey and basketball. Lathrop and her husband also traveled around the world, including Japan.

Lathrop was the disaster services coordinator for the American Red Cross and has many memories from that time in her life. "We had a snowstorm that closed Route 1 going south out of Oxford. People could not pass, so it became a clog of truckers and people traveling," she shared. A disaster center was set up at a church in Oxford, where travelers were able to shelter for the night. "Snowmobilers brought people from their cars to the church," Lathrop recalled.

Lathrop said she was pleased with how the book turned out. "I think (Swarmer) did a marvelous job," she stated. "The idea was to have the young children in (Emporium) know that even though it is a tiny little town, they (will be) able to succeed."

A portion of book sales is being donated to Hometown Mentors. "(Lathrop) doesn't want to appear haughty, (but) with HMI being a recipient of some of the profits, it made it easier for her to accept the whole book," Swarmer added.

To learn more about HMI and how to purchase the book, visit http://www.hometownmentors.com/essays-of-the-real-unknown. More information is also available at http://www.facebook.com/hometownmentorseverywhere.