Category Archives: In Other News

September 11, 2025 · 8:46 am

The Passing of Dylan McGill

He was born on February 10, 1988, and raised in Franklin, Ohio. Dylan earned his BFA in Musical Theatre from the Boston Conservatory and went on to live in Boston, Chicago, and Corpus Christi, Texas, before eventually returning to his hometown.

Dylan truly exemplified everything fun, vibrant, and joyful. He was considered a best friend by many and a bright light in every space he entered.

To his family, friends, and colleagues, Dylan was a gift. He lived life to the fullest, but it was the theatre that truly captured his heart. His passion for storytelling, performance, and community was a defining part of who he was.

A celebration of Dylan’s life will be held on Sunday, September 14, from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Anderson Funeral Home in Franklin, Ohio. In honor of his love for the stage, we invite guests to join us as we remember Dylan in the spirit he lived: with heart, creativity, and an open curtain.

All friends and family are welcome.

The Passing of Marvel Gentry Harmon

From Legacy.com

Marvel Harmon Obituary
Obituary published on Legacy.com by J. C. Battle and Sons Funeral Home on Aug. 26, 2025.

Location: J.C. Battle & Sons Funeral Home (543 Rockdale Ave, Cincinnati OH 45229)
Born: Monday 11/09/1953 Died: Thursday 08/21/2025 Died In: Loveland, OH

Visitation
When: Friday 08/29/2025 10:00am to 11:00am
Location: Quinn Chapel
10998 Southland Rd
Cincinnati, OH 45240

Service
When: Friday 08/29/2025 11:00am to 12:00pm
Location: Quinn Chapel
10998 Southland Rd
Cincinnati, OH 45240

Burial
When: Friday 08/29/2025 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Location: Spring Grove Cemetery
4521 Spring Grove Ave
Cincinnati, OH 45232

Obituary
Harmon, Marvel Gentry, beloved wife of Arthur W Harmon Jr, devoted mother of Epiphany Davis, Christina Reeves and Justin Harmon. Passed Thursday, August 21, 2025 Age 71 years. Visitation Friday, August 29, 2025 from 10:00 AM until 11:00 AM at Quinn Chapel AME Church., 10998 Southland Rd Cincinnati, Ohio 45240 452 Funeral Service on Friday, August 29, 2025 at 11:00 AM at Quinn Chapel AME Church.. Burial at Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Life Story
Marvel Gentry Harmon was born Marvel Denise Gentry on November 9, 1953, in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is the eldest child born to Helen Lee Gentry and Marvin Gentry, Sr. She began her formal education at South Woodlawn Elementary School but transferred quickly to North Avondale Elementary School. Marvel accepted Christ at an early age and was baptized by Rev. Otis Moss, Sr at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Lockland, Ohio

As a child, Marvel was the apple of her parents’ and grandparents’ eyes. She was a bright, vibrant, energetic, and curious child who loved to talk, sing, and dance for her family. That’s when her love for entertaining began. She graduated from Walnut Hill High School in 1971 and was accepted to the prestigious Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, with the intention of studying medicine. That did not last very long, but Marvel loved NU nonetheless. During her time at NU, Marvel made history as the first Black pompom girl and the only person of color in the homecoming court. She stayed in the Chicago area after graduating in 1975 and began her professional career in sales, later transitioning into the technology field.

Marvel was highly esteemed in her work life leading to many annual president club recognitions for her accomplishments. Computer Software sales led to newer technology and other companies until Marvel found herself as the publisher of Madeira and Indian Hill Neighbor magazines. As publisher she won the Spirit of Madeira award for her community engagement, and rookie of the year in acknowledgement of her magazines’ successes.
Marvel’s greatest accomplishment is her beautiful daughter. She welcomed Epiphany Elease Gentry Davis in 1989 with her then-husband, Elease Skip Davis. As an only child the bond Marvel shared with her daughter was truly special.

After many years of Marvel and Piph being a dynamic duo, in 2017 Marvel married Arthur W. Harmon, Jr. and gained two more daughters – Christina Reeves and Justin Harmon, and two grandsons, David and Christian Reeves. Marvel and Art loved to travel. Together they went on many adventures, domestically and abroad. They agreed that their romance and the last eight plus were a ‘Divine Conspiracy’ in God’s plan for them, plans to proper them and not to harm them and plans to give them hope and a future in their Golden Years.

Marvel enjoyed many things – travel, music, golf, swimming but most of all Marvel loved the arts and the stage. She was the Producing Artistic Director of ballet tech cincinnati, later arts innovation movement (aim: cincinnati) where she fostered countless performance opportunities for dancers of all ages in the Aronoff Center’s Jarson Kaplan Theater. Not only did she produce new and original shows, but she produced The Gala of International Dance Stars for 10 years – bringing the best of the best in the dance world to Cincinnati. For her passionate efforts, she received several recognitions and honors from the local community. Marvel was an outstanding performer in her own right – from her early days of dancing as a child, through adulthood. More recently Marvel discovered musical theater and truly found a community with the Loveland Stage Company – taking weekly dance classes there and performing with them several times a year.

Marvel was passionate about her relationship with God and ministering to others. Beginning with her work in Southern Baptist Children’s Church and culminating in the ministry she created with her husband. Together, they built Standing in the Gap USA into a strong scripture-based ministry that is available on video and podcast.

Marvel’s life was her greatest performance, filled with love, faith, and joy. Though the curtain has fallen, her light endures, reminding us that it is not the length of life, but the beauty of how it is lived, that truly matters. She was, in every sense, a wonderful woman, wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend, remembered forever as someone for all of us to Marvel.

Marvel is preceded in death by her mother, Helen Lee Gentry; her grandmother, Perrine Richardson; and her uncle, Virgil Thompson. Left to cherish her memory, her loving husband Arthur Harmon, Jr.; her children, Epiphany Davis, Christina Reeves, Justin Harmon; her grandchildren, David Reeves, Christian Reeves; her father Marvin (Rosemary) Gentry, Sr; her siblings, Victoria (James) Crook, Jennifer (Yvette) Gentry, Marvin (Monica) Gentry Jr, Hilde (Barry Willingham) Hochwald, Jonathan (Eyonda) Gentry, Cleoyvonta Longmire Gentry; and countless nieces, nephews, cousins, other family and friends who will miss her immensely.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
– 2 Corinthians 5:17

Acknowledgements
There are no words to fully convey our thanks to everyone who called, prayed, visited, sent comforting messages and expressed their sympathy and condolences during the unexpected hospitalization and passing of Marvel Gentry Harmon. The family will send more formal acknowledgements in the weeks ahead.

In lieu of flowers, we ask for charitable donations to the Helen Lee Gentry Scholarship Fund

The Passing of Nichole (Ellerhorst) Nelson

From Mueller Funeral Home

Nichole Krista (Ellerhorst) Nelson (April 1, 1974 – August 11, 2025) added beauty to our world through the nurturing care of her family. Carrying on through seven years of cancer (five of those at stage 4), she served as the family’s beacon of compassion, virtue, and faith. Even through her sickness, she navigated her family through their struggles. After listening intently, she would organize a person’s thoughts into creative solutions with practical steps to success. She loved managing people, finding their strengths, and putting them on a path. Her talents could have taken her to a company’s “C-suite”—we were blessed that she instead applied those gifts to her loved ones.

Nikki was born on April 1, 1974 to parents John Ellerhorst (deceased) and Julie Dennis. She and her sister, Jeannie (Ellerhorst) Kief grew up on the West Side of Cincinnati, attending grade school at Our Lady of Lourdes in Western Hills and secondary school at Mercy High School in Westwood. As children, Nikki and Jeannie enjoyed vacationing with their grandparents Nana and Pa (Nancy and James Couzens, deceased). Nikki was an all-around athlete on her West Side teams. For softball, she played third base and shortstop, mostly because she could fire the ball across the diamond. But the sport she most loved was soccer, where she defended the posts as a goalkeeper. Stories say that she was fearless and would willingly sacrifice her body for the save. After witnessing a number of headfirst dives, her Mom and her coaches made her wear a foam helmet. She also had to be constantly involved in school activities. She served as an officer in numerous school clubs, most notably as part of the Mercy Thespians, where she nurtured lifelong friendships on and off the stage. She was an intense scholar, earning a full scholarship to the College of Mount St. Joseph (keeping in the tradition of Catholic schools on the West Side) as a dual major in mathematics and education. After graduation from college, she taught in the math departments of Notre Dame Academy and St. Xavier High School. She left St. Xavier in 2000 so she could focus on raising a family of independent thinkers with strong roots in their faith.

She met her eventual husband of 27 years (Greg Nelson) because they shared a script at the first rehearsal of a community theater play. They married on December 27, 1997, after two years of dates throwing baseball, shooting basketball, going out to theater, and having more dinners than they reasonably should have. They started their family less than two years later with Anthony Dominic (1999), Sophia Nichole (2000), Genevieve Marie (2002), Gabriella Grace (2004), Griffin Gregory (2005), Alexander Jonah (2006), Daphne Isabella (2008), Aria Rose (2010), and Heidi Anneliese (2013). Genevieve blessed the family with two grandchildren, Isaí Arye Valle (2024) and Axton Tarlo Valle (2025). Nikki continued to teach mathematics as the children’s primary homeschool teacher (and head principal). She loved tracking down opportunities for her children to find their passions and work from their strengths. She tailored the education schedule and lesson delivery to the exact needs of each child. She built some of her most cherished friendships through homeschooling, serving as a teacher at the Immaculate Heart cooperative and as a youth theater director for DramatiConnections. She also involved herself and her children at St. John the Evangelist Church in West Chester, OH. Many a time, she volunteered her children to serve as last-minute altar attendants. Most of all, she wanted her children to find what they love and commit to their goals. Nikki wanted to stay with her children to keep them moving forward; but, as she declined in health, she felt certain that God would keep guiding them.

Nikki chose “Monica” as her confirmation name because St. Monica is the patron saint of perseverance. St. Monica prayed constantly for her son when he was living apart from God and before he became St. Augustine of Hippo. It is more than fitting that Nikki chose the patron saint of mothers as a model of endurance and faith.

The Nelson family is grateful for all the care we have received from those who love us so much. You have showered us with good things–food, money, rides, services, scheduling help, house upkeep, and referrals. You have talked with us, sat with us, cried with us, embraced us, called us, texted us, prayed for us, and prayed with us. We are blessed that you pour out your love on our family.

To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Nichole Krista Nelson, please visit our flower store.