Thelma G. Springer, a retired Howard County real estate broker, died Monday of heart failure at Ridgeway Manor Nursing Home in Catonsville. She was 96 and lived in Ellicott City.

Born in Spotsylvania County, Va., Thelma G. Stephens attended schools in Savage after moving to Howard County in 1913.

She became a real estate broker in 1952 and helped create the Howard County Real Estate Board, serving as its president. She operated her business, Springer and Associates Realtors, in a converted dairy barn on Montgomery Road.

She retired from real estate in 1968 after being injured in an automobile accident.

Mrs. Springer was a Welcome Wagon hostess in the early 1950s and a local organizer of March of Dimes campaigns.

Her husband of 60 years, P. Benjamin Springer, died in 1985.

Private graveside services will be held today.

She is survived by two sons, B. Glenn Springer of Columbia and Stephen B. Springer of Mesa, Ariz.; a daughter, Lucille Springer Conner of Ellicott City; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.