Carol Hill Tatta, 76, education specialist

Carol Hill Tatta, 76, of Wayne, director of what is now the Central Nursery School in Wayne from 1975 to 2010, died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, on Tuesday, March 27, at home.

In 2010, Eastern University in St. Davids named Mrs. Tatta its alumna of the year, her husband, Joseph, said. She was an instructor in early childhood education there in the 1980s, he said.

Born in Fort Fairfield, Maine, Mrs. Tatta attended what is now Eastern University in the 1950s, and, after marrying and raising her children, earned a bachelor's degree in early childhood education there in 1984.

She began teaching at what was then the Central Baptist Nursery School in Wayne in 1970. After five years, she became its director, her husband said. She opened a second such school at Christ Church Ithan in Villanova in 1990 and ran that, too.

She introduced and ran a parent-education course at Central Baptist and in 1992 expanded it into the Family Forum there, her husband said.

At the Wayne school, her husband said, she helped found and run a babies and children support group called Parents and Friends of Exceptional Children. She also helped direct a unit called All About Children.

For 12 years, she was a tutor at the Learning Center in Wayne, he said.

Mrs. Tatta was a special-education consultant for the Woodlynde School in Strafford.A member of the Valley Brook Civic Association in Wayne, she was a member of the North American Society of Adlerian Psychology.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Tatta is survived by sons Drew and Ben; daughters Jo Graugh and Sue Smith; a brother; a sister; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

A life celebration was scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, April 14, in McInnis Auditorium at Eastern University, 1300 Eagle Rd., St. Davids.