Mrs. Martha Milton and her daughter Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Melba Marsh are shown together in this 2009 photo taken by Connie Springer. Martha T. Milton, a longtime community leader and activist, beloved by the Greater Cincinnati community, and known to all as “Mother Martha,” died Sunday, June 12. She was 87.

She played a key role in the formation of many lives, personal as well as political. She was a social activist, community innovator and political force for many years. Her daughter, Common Pleas Court Judge Melba D. Marsh said, “I shared my mother with the whole world. She was her ‘own woman.’ She never bit her tongue. You always knew exactly where you stood with her.”

As a community leader she played many roles in the development of the human spirit. She was a founding member of the Talbert House and under the Model Cities program of the ‘60s and ‘70s, and she was a prime motivator in bringing businesses such as Kroger, Provident Bank, Walgreen’s, The West End Health Center, and others to the West End community. Judge Marsh said, “It bothered her tremendously that so many gains she fought for in those years have been lost in the West End.’’

Sen. Eric H. Kearney said Mother Martha’s passing is a great loss. “When Mother Martha called, you knew you had to pick up the phone. She was smart, informed, and opinionated, and you never wanted to miss what she had to tell you. She also was full of energy and life. She became a regular on Lincoln Ware’s popular talk show and she stayed in close touch with The Cincinnati Herald, sending in lucky lottery numbers and keeping the staff up to date on various political issues. Whether you agreed or disagreed with her opinion on an issue, you had to respect her. I will miss her, as I know all of us will.”

“We talked during the Obama campaign and Mother Martha told me she was praying for him,” added Cincinnati Herald publisher, Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney. “I was really moved by her optimism and spirit during difficult parts of the campaign.”

Talbert House Community Relations Director Teri Na wrote about Mrs. Milton’s community involvement in a recent Talbert House Annual Report, noting when Mrs. Milton attended her first Talbert House board meeting she had no idea the impact the organization would have in the community - nor the impact her association with Talbert

‘We have lost a very bright light.’ said Teri Nau, of Talbert House. Judge Marsh remembers attending board meetings with her mother as a child. “I’d lie under that big table and listen, too,” says Marsh. Judge Marsh also recalls former Executive Director Mike Mc- Cartt leading the meetings. “He would come in and say, ‘All right, here are the people we need to help today, let’s marshal our forces: what do we need to do to help these individuals?’ And each board member had their part. Mom was (working) at the unemployment offices, so she would help people get jobs. There were doctors and lawyers and all different kinds of people on the board and it went on like that. Everybody helped.”

Nau said of Mrs. Milton, “She lived a wonderful life. We have lost a very bright light.’’

As Republican Ward chairman in the West End, her advice and assistance were sought by those seeking all levels of office: city, county, and state, including gubernatorial and U.S. Congressional races.

As an employee of the Ohio State Bureau of Employment Services, she took a personal interest in mentoring so many in finding jobs and careers. She always said, “The best poverty prevention program is a good job.”

As an employee of the Ohio State Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, she mentored numerous new attorneys in the processing of claims.

In retirement, she really hit her stride by becoming a well known radio personality where she daily dispensed her sage advice and took on all types of projects.

She was an avid subscriber and reader of The Cincinnati Herald. For years, she wrote the popular feature “Mother Martha’s Numbers.” Her daughter Melba said, “She reveled in picking lucky numbers and was quite good at it. She was excited when her chosen numbers came up and was always happy for the winners.”

Herald Circulation Manager Wade Lacey said customers looked each week for Mother Martha’s weekly numbers. “If for some reason, her numbers did not appear in an edition of the paper, I would be inundated with phone calls complaining about the omission,’’ Lacey said.

The late Judge William S. Matthews was a close friend, who in the 1960s began referring to Mrs. Milton as “Mother Martha,’’ after she was involved in his election to the bench. In a speech made after his election, Matthews said, “I would not be judge if not for Martha,’’ and introduced her as his second mother. He said she carried him and mothered him through the election, and he always called her “mother’’ and it caught on.

“Really, my mother mothered everybody, and I had to share my mother with the entire world,’’ Judge Marsh said.

“I remember being a little girl and following her around with Rev. Maurice McCrackin, Dr. Ted Silberstein and other members of the original Talbert House Board,’’ Marsh said. “They went everywhere talking about ex-convicts, getting people jobs and other people who had a hard time and how we had to help them. I thought these people were so unusual. They made things happen by sheer force of their wills.’’

“Those early board members set the tone for today’s Talbert House: Do what it takes to help those in need, Nau said.

Mrs. Milton was very popular in the West End. Her daughter remembers that a short walk down the street with her mother would often take two hours. “People wanted to talk to her, and she was the best storyteller I have ever known,’’ Marsh said. “She was also a great historian, and could talk about George Washington Carver, the Civil Rights Era, and other historical personalities and events.’’

Mrs. Milton grew up in Bessemer, Ala., in the highly segregated South, which placed all sorts of limits on people of color. “However, I always felt she accomplished so much in her life,’’ Marsh said. “If my mother was born in a different time and place, she could have gone so much further, for she was a force to be reckoned with, and there would have been no ceiling as to what she could have accomplished.’’

Marsh said her mother “gave me a front row seat to a piece of local history. In being around her, I wanted to have the courage of my convictions like she had when I grew up. She was an organizer, a force to be reckoned with, and she did it all.’’

Dr. O’dell Owens, who grew up in the West End and is now president of Cincinnati State Technical & Community College, said, “Martha was a wonderful woman, who helped a lot of people get jobs without a lot of fanfare. She certainly was a strong-minded woman, but never a mean-spirited woman. She put a lot of value on loyalty, both giving and receiving, in regard to her city, her community, her family and friends.

“I loved her to death. She was a great woman who will truly be missed by the community. But I will miss her even more.’’

Mrs. Milton was a godmother to Vickie Cameron of Bond Hill. “She will be truly missed by me, for she was like a member of my family,’’ Cameron said. I could always call her and talk with her, and she often called me. We lived in the Laurel Homes in the West End together, and she was always very involved in the community, always for the underdog. I could say a thousand things about Martha Milton, and they would all be good.’’

Retired State Representative William Mallory, Sr. said Mrs. Milton was widely known in political circles in the area, and she was a “good person to have on your side.’’ He added she worked hard to better the community as a member of the West End Community Council, and served as president of the council at one time. He also said he admired the “inspirational pathway she set for her daughter, Judge Marsh, to follow to achievement.’’

WBDZ 1230-FM talk show host Lincoln Ware said Mrs. Milton was more than just a caller on his show, but a good friend. “We talked off the air. I would visit her. When I got fired from WCIN, she called me crying. When I went out of town, she was gatekeeper for me, and if anybody called in and said something negative about me, she would take notes and tell me about it when I returned. She was my best listener of all time, and had her radio on every day. And, when I went off the air at 2 p.m., she would be on the phone with me at 2:01 p.m. to talk about what some other caller said. She was just a unique person.’’

Besides Judge Melba Marsh, Mrs. Milton is survived by daughters Renee Scott (Robbi) and Lynette Darby (James); faithful friend Percy Milton Sr.; stepson Percy Milton, Jr. (Sandra); cousin Rosa Pauline Boggs; 15 grandchildren; 13 great grandchildren; and a host of relatives and friends.