By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - Charlene Tucker, the college counselor at Stephen T. Badin High School for the past 20 years, died Saturday of kidney failure after a three-week stay at Good Samaritan Hospital. She was 57.

She "provided many years of dedicated service to Badin," said Principal Frank Margello. "There are a lot of students who have her to thank for their college experience."

A 1967 graduate of the University of Cincinnati, Ms. Tucker later returned to receive a master's degree in education from UC. She joined the staff at Badin as a counselor in the summer of 1983.

"She did a great job at getting financial aid," said Dirk Q. Allen, Badin spokesman. "She helped garner millions of dollars in financial aid for college students, which obviously made a huge difference in their ability to go to school.

"She was in education for 35 years in Southwest Ohio," at Cincinnati Public Schools and Preble Shawnee Local Schools in addition to Badin, Allen said.

Well-known for her love of animals, Ms. Tucker was a member of the Animal Rescue Fund of Amelia and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Survivors include her husband of six years, Toney Autry; her parents, Charles and Irene Salie; two sisters, Lois Judith Anderson and Lucy West; and a brother, John Kenfield.

Visitation is 5-8 p.m. today at Brown Dawson Funeral Home, 1350 Millville Ave. in Hamilton. The funeral is noon Thursday at the funeral home, followed by burial at Rose Hill Burial Park.

Memorials: Animal Rescue Fund, P.O. Box 464, Amelia, OH 45102; PETA, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; or the National Kidney Foundation, 30 E. 33rd St., Suite 1100, New York, NY 10016.