Ethyle Diven, 86, city police lieutenant Ethyle Diven...

Ethyle Diven, 86, city police lieutenant

Ethyle Diven, a retired Baltimore police lieutenant, died Friday of heart failure at Berlin Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, where she had been a resident since January. She was 86 and had lived in Sudbrook Park and Hampden.

She retired in 1967 after 22 years with the Police Department. She had been a sergeant in homicide and a lieutenant in a squad that investigated illegal abortions -- one of the first women in the department to attain the rank.

Born Ethyle Taylor in Stanley, Va., she was raised in Baltimore and was a graduate of Western High School.

Her husband of a half-century, Kenneth Diven, died in 1988.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. today at Sterling-Ashton-Schwab Funeral Home, 736 Edmondson Ave., Catonsville.

She is survived by a daughter, Anne M. O'Connell of Ocean City; a brother, Ray Taylor of Augusta, W.Va.; and a grandson.