STRUTHERS -- George Voytilla Jr. and his sister Susan Flesher grew up with the business their father

STRUTHERS -- George Voytilla Jr. and his sister Susan Flesher grew up with the business their father founded in 1953.
Now, since the recent deaths of their parents, George Voytilla Sr. and Sophia Voytilla, the brother and sister team have assumed ownership of Thatcher Heating & amp; Cooling. Voytilla Jr. is president and Flesher is vice president.
The siblings know the business well because both joined the company years ago and have been contributing their mechanical, bookkeeping and sales talents to help make it a success.
Thatcher Heating & amp; Cooling is one of two licensed Trane products dealers in the area. It does residential and commercial work, focusing on the installation and service of boilers, furnaces and air conditioners. Voytilla Sr. named the company after a furnace brand popular in the 1950s which is no longer manufactured.
Career paths
Voytilla Jr. joined the company after serving four years in the Air Force in the 1960s, including two years spent guarding a missile site near Great Falls, Mont. He decided to come back home to be closer to family and took a job installing and servicing products for his parents.
"I felt obligated to work with my dad, who treated me well as a kid," Voytilla said. "My dad did all he could do for us, so I wanted to come back to help him."
Flesher studied bookkeeping at Youngstown State University for a few years. She then worked as a bookkeeper at Acme Steak Co. Inc. when the meatpacking plant was on Youngstown's East Side, then accepted a similar position at the former Hill's department store.
She joined Thatcher Heating & amp; Cooling in 1977, dividing her time between bookkeeping and serving as an outside saleswoman for the family business.
Specialization
Voytilla and his eight employees specialize in metal fabrication and custom retrofitting work, meaning they adapt a job to fit a home's duct work, or, if necessary, build a new duct system. Thatcher's has its own metal fabricating shop in which workers create new heating and cooling duct networks as well as smaller parts when customers need them.
The business also installs and repairs dehumidification units for indoor swimming pools and gas-fueled air conditioners.
In recent years, Voytilla has installed dehumidification systems to regulate motels' indoor pools, and his service area has expanded beyond the Mahoning Valley to include Cleveland, Akron and Canton.
He said the business conducts follow-up surveys after selling and installing a product to ensure customer satisfaction.
Voytilla said the heating and cooling industry has become more specialized over the years, so he and his employees attend classes and seminars several times a year to learn new installation techniques and keep up with changes in the market.
"I've been in this business a long time, and I've barely scratched the surface of it," Voytilla said.