By Nicole Hamilton
The Cincinnati Enquirer

SPRINGFIELD TWP. - Betty J. Ellison Tarver made a difference in many lives as an educator and in service to family and the Mount Zion Baptist Church of Woodlawn.

"Many people are what they are today because of her," said her cousin, Patti Hogue of Woodlawn.

Ms. Tarver died Sunday at Mercy Fairfield Hospital of cancer. The former Lincoln Heights resident was 72.

For many years, Ms. Tarver and her brothers provided care for their 94-year-old mother, Grace Bronston Ellison, who lived with Ms. Tarver in Pleasant Run.

At the time of her death, Ms. Tarver served as the Sunday school superintendent of Mount Zion Baptist Church, where she oversaw the training of Sunday school teachers in addition to planning the curriculum.

Raised in Lincoln Heights, Hartwell and Lockland, Ms. Tarver graduated from Lockland Wayne High School in 1947 and continued her education at West Virginia State College Institute, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1950.

Ms. Tarver returned to Lincoln Heights after she graduated and began her career as a primary grade school teacher at the now-closed Ekstein School in Glendale.

She went on to teach at her alma mater, Lockland Wayne School. When the school closed in 1958, she began teaching kindergarten and first grade at Lockland Elementary School, and remained there until her retirement in the early 1980s.

Ms. Tarver served as past president of the Southwest District of Women's Federated Clubs and the Valley Forge Federated Women's Club. She was also a member of the Lockland Wayne Alumni Association.

Her husband, James, died in 1985.

Survivors include her mother; four brothers, Willis Ellison of Woodlawn, Robert Ellison of North Avondale, John Ellison of Springdale and Richard Ellison of Glendale; and cousins.

Visitation will be 10 a.m. today at Mount Zion Baptist Church, 10180 Woodlawn Blvd., Woodlawn. A funeral service will follow at 11 a.m., also at the church.

Burial will be in Crown Memorial Gardens, Pleasant Run.

Memorials: Mount Zion Baptist Church.

E-mail nhamilton@enquirer.com