The story of Ruth Purcell at Butler County Community College begins with her first steps on the college’s main campus.

Imagine Purcell as a newly transplanted Midwesterner watching a ceremony 17 years and three jobs before she would think about becoming a BC3 employee.

It’s a story that begins with Purcell of Butler standing with her daughter, Laura, and viewing the Butler Area Senior High School promenade, a procession of teenagers bedecked in finery and ascending a path shaded by the canopies of BC3’s stately oak trees.

Mother and daughter noticed the twinkling lights that spiraled and climbed the oaks near Founders Hall that May evening.

“Is this a magic place?” 7-year-old Laura asked her mother.

Their move to Butler County begins on Page 11 of a life storybook Purcell’s daughter, Laura Menchyk, of Long Island, N.Y., created in honor of her mother, who served 10 years as executive director of the BC3 Education Foundation and who retired in December.

Five $1 million gifts

The BC3 Education Foundation under Purcell received five $1 million gifts and one $500,000 contribution, private donations that helped to fund the creation on BC3’s main campus of the state-of-the-art Heaton Family Learning Commons and the nature-infused Amy Wise Children’s Creative Learning Center.

Private gifts also will help fund the high-tech Victor K. Phillips Nursing and Allied Health Building, which will headquarter the college’s first school — the Shaffer School of Nursing and Allied Health — and a licensed practical nursing program that will debut next fall in partnership with Concordia Lutheran Ministries. “My role was to raise money,” Purcell said. “Keep your eye on the prize. That is what I had to do.”

Assets in the BC3 Education Foundation grew by 145%, to $22 million, under Purcell, who moved to Butler County from West Lafayette, Ind., in late 1992 with her husband, Mark Mann, Laura, and son Colin.

After serving as director of community relations for Lifesteps Inc. from 1993-98, as a financial adviser for Legg Mason Wood Walker from 1998-2001 and as director of development at Slippery Rock University from 2001-09, Purcell in 2010 became executive director of the BC3 Education Foundation.

‘Relationship person’

“She was extraordinary,” said retired SRU president Robert Smith. “A real relationship person.

“Advancement is all about relationships and establishing trust, and Ruth was exceptional.”

Their professional connection remained after she left SRU for BC3. Smith served on BC3’s board of trustees while he was president of SRU, and was a trustee when Purcell was hired to lead the BC3 Education Foundation.

”It has been, up until just a few years ago, extraordinarily unusual for a community college to have an aggressive foundation, a full on-board advancement program where you’re seeking major gifts,” Smith said. “Ruth was the vanguard for that for community colleges.”

Smith said he and Purcell have remained good friends since they worked together.

Karen Sue Owens, president and CEO of Lifesteps, wished Purcell well in her retirement. “I am honored to have worked with Ruth when she was at Lifesteps and to know her throughout her career as a champion for the Butler community,” Owens said.

Retired Lifesteps president Dan Musko said Purcell was a valued member of the management team.

“After a short time, she was highly regarded in the community,” he said. “Her positive attitude was contagious.”

Supporting a vision

The BC3 Education Foundation is a charitable organization that acquires and manages private funds to support BC3’s mission, goals, initiatives and programs. It administers more than $200,000 in named scholarships annually.

Purcell, a native of Cincinnati, also served as an ex-officio director on the 20-member BC3 Education Foundation board, organized a three-year Pioneer Proud fundraising campaign that eclipsed its $5.5 million goal by $1.3 million and included the first $1 million gift to BC3 in the college’s history. “All of the numbers are staggering, and directly connect back to Ruth in her role,” said Nick Neupauer, BC3 president.

“Her personality was a big part of it,” said Glenn Miller, a 1981 BC3 graduate and BC3 trustee since 1998.

“You’re really not asking people for money,” Purcell said. “You tell the story. You don’t say, ‘We need $5 million to do this.’ You talk about what the college has accomplished. You talk about your students. You talk about your leaders. You talk about your vision.”

Purcell is starting a new chapter in the storybook her daughter created 27 years after she asked her mother “Is this a magic place?”

“Yes, honey, I think it is,” Purcell recalls responding.

Bill Foley is coordinator of news content for Butler County Community College.

Eagle Staff Writer Steve Ferris contributed to this report.