Barbara Ransopher and her late husband, Cyril, spent their lives building a stronger community through mental health advocacy, service and giving. By supporting causes Cyril helped pioneer and establishing a COTC scholarship in her parents’ honor, she continues to create opportunities for working people and pay it forward.

Barbara Ransopher doesn’t sing anymore. Her 90-year-old ears don’t hear the music as well, and her wonderful voice now wavers. Even so, she stays acutely in tune — not with compositions, but with community causes. Be it contributions to programs her late husband pioneered or the scholarship she instituted at COTC, Ransopher finds every opportunity to pay it forward.

“It’s our responsibility to our communities,” she said, “and COTC is a big part of this community.”

Music was a big part of the Mount Vernon native’s life. “There’s something about it that’s very fulfilling,” she said. Ransopher fulfilled a goal her junior year at Ohio State by earning a spot in its selective symphonic choir. She sang next to a talented tenor named Cyril: a harmonious encounter. The couple married a few years later.

In 1961, they moved to Newark, where Cyril secured a job in social work. “The focus on mental health was getting its start around that time,” Ransopher recalled, and before long, Cyril was calling the tune. He worked his way up to executive director of Moundbuilders Guidance Center, overseeing support services for Licking and Knox counties.

“Cy’ was there in the beginning,” Ransopher said. “I can’t begin to tell you how many committees he was on, building what the mental health vision would become in Ohio.”

Meanwhile, Ransopher built her reputation as a community advocate. She joined the Mental Health America of Licking County board. She served her church and sang in its choir for almost 60 years. She volunteered in school libraries. She was president of the local chapter of the PEO Sisterhood, an international organization generating scholarships for young women. She was chair of TWIG 14, a group raising funds for Licking Memorial Hospital (LMH).

After Cyril passed in 1996, that advocacy crescendoed through donations. Ransopher supports the likes of LMH, United Way, the Licking County Foundation, the Newark-Granville Symphony Orchestra and many mental health initiatives Cyril helped found. “I give every year to quite a lot of causes advancing this community,” she said.

COTC shares her vision for advancement. That’s why she donates to several scholarship funds and started the Walter C. and Iona Kuhn Beroth Scholarship. It’s named after her parents and given annually to a COTC student from Knox County.

“COTC reaches working people, and my parents were definitely working people,” she claimed. “It’s a vibrant school and it’s represented in my home of Mount Vernon.”

Her music career reached its coda, but Ransopher is still hitting the high notes in this community. She’s upholding her husband’s legacy, supporting indispensable institutions and providing young people opportunities for higher education. Though her voice has waned, she still sings this place’s praises.

“Newark is blossoming, and COTC is an important part. I give because the community has given so much to us.