By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

CLIFTON - Mary Louise Blase, a community volunteer and member of the May Festival Chorus, died April 4 at Scarlet Oaks Retirement Community. A resident of Clifton for 60 years, she was 88.

"She was a very caring person. Volunteerism was certainly a major part of her life," said her daughter, Phyllis Blase Overmann of Montgomery. "She did it in a caring and unassuming way and shared that idea with us growing up."

Mrs. Blase gave generously of her time to several organizations, including the Boy Scouts, Campfire Girls, the Cincinnati Festival Chorus, Clifton Senior Center Meals on Wheels program, Radio Reading Services of the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and the Charity Ball.

Born Mary Louise Muething in Covington in 1915, she attended LaSalette Academy. She was a member of the May Festival Chorus for several years during the late 1930s and early 1940s. She worked as a secretary for Procter & Gamble for nearly five years before marrying Dr. Charles S. Blase in 1943.

They were music lovers and supporters of the arts, including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Opera, the May Festival, the Art Museum, the Taft Museum and the Cincinnati Zoo.

"The music part of her life was very important," Mrs. Blase's daughter said. "She was not only a vocalist but played the piano." And she made music an integral part of her family's life.

Mrs. Blase was president of the Women's Auxiliary to the Academy of Medicine, the Clifton Music Club, LaSalette Alumnae Association and the Annunciation School PTA.

Dr. Blase died in 1999.

In addition to her daughter, survivors include three sons, Kevin of Montgomery, Brendan T. of Delhi Township and Gregory M. of Hudson, Ohio; two other daughters, M. Hollis Blase Cotrell of Columbus and Celeste Blase Tuvin of Columbia, Md.; a sister, Ruth Higdon of Crestview Hills; two brothers, John Muething of Amberley Village and Gerald Muething of Merritt Island, Fla.; nine grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Services have been held. Burial was at St. Mary Cemetery in Fort Mitchell.

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com