Helt (Bourke/Rupp) Kathleen/Kathy/Kate; Gambier, Ohio born January 22, 1947, to Germaine Wilcox and Raymond Rupp in Columbus, Ohio, died March 10, 2025, of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Kate enjoyed twenty-one years working in the Columbus business community following her education at the University of Dayton.
She spent the last eleven of those years with The Murfin Company in Columbus, where she rose to Vice President of Operations and ultimately became one of five partners.
Kate belonged to the Metropolitan Club of Columbus, and the Worthington Business and Professional Women’s Club, which named her “Woman of the Year” in 1982.
The Murfin Company was sold to The Menasha Corporation of Neenha, WI, in 1986. Following her retirement from Murfin Company in 1987, she explored various business and educational paths, including Underwater Scuba Diving up through Deep Sea Night Diving.
Kate surprised many friends and family with her radical life change in 1999, by settling down with her husband Eric H. Helt to establish Dharma Farm on 92 acres in Gambier, Knox County Ohio. They raised sheep, goats, llamas, laying hens, ducks and a few head of cattle.
For 17 of those years, Kate and Eric hosted and taught a for-credit class in Sustainable Agriculture for nearby Kenyon College, for which the students worked weekly on the farm and studied on campus with faculty.
Kate has described these years of living and working on the farm as the hardest and most rewarding years of her life.
Kate was preceded in death by her mother (1985) and her father in (2004). She is survived by her husband, Eric H. Helt, her siblings, Garry (Kathleen) Rupp, Ellen (Eric) Pindell, Rebecca (David) Neiger, all of the Columbus area, and a stepdaughter, Bethony (Doug) Winston and their five children.
Any donations will be most welcomed by Habitat for Humanity of Knox County Ohio 13246 Wooster Road, Mount Vernon, Ohio 43050. They are doing amazing new and ambitious work in Knox County. Donations also may be made to Interim Hospice at 300 W. Wilson Bridge Road, Worthington, Ohio 43085.
The Dowds-Snyder Funeral Home is honored to serve the family of Kathleen R. Helt.
Funeral Home: Snyder
Website: www.snyderfuneralhomes.com