Helen Marie Kidd

On Friday, June 12, 2026, Helen “Marie” Gorsuch Kidd of West Lafayette, Indiana left her time in this brief world to enter eternity, worshipping and rejoicing with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

At 97, she was preceded in death in 2021 by her sweetheart and husband of 68 years, Ronald Ray Kidd, and two babies they never got to hold.  She was also preceded in death by her parents Benjamin “Frank” Franklin Gorsuch, Sr. and Inez Elvira Berggren Gorsuch, and in-laws, Leo Foster Kidd and Lucy “Ethel” Waggoner Kidd.  Marie grew up in a large close family, including 7 siblings and respective spouses who all preceded her in death, namely Benjamin “Ben” Franklin Gorsuch, Jr., Vernon Newton Gorsuch, Paul Leroy Gorsuch, Evelyn “Evie” Lydia Jedlicka Gorsuch, Betty Lou Gorsuch Drewes, William “Bill” Drewes, Leslie Lamar Gorsuch, Gloria Inez Gorsuch Burgess, William “Bill” Burgess, Kathryn “Joan” Gorsuch Allen, and Marion Allen; and a treasured brother-in-law Robert “Bob” Emerson Kidd and successive wives Ethel Lucile White Kidd and Lois Evangeline Drummond Kidd, niece Elizabeth Gorsuch Herod, nephew David “Glenn” Burgess, and granddaughter Kristina Marie Turner.

Marie was born at home in Merchantville, New Jersey on April 20, 1929, before they moved to a large historic building they converted into a home from the c. 1724 Fox Chase Inn in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. She began studying harp in Philadelphia while still in high school, and graduated from Marple Newtown High School in 1947.  She continued her harp studies with harp teacher Jill Bailiff for the next five years, while working as Executive Secretary for the President of Boosey and Hawks International Music Company in Philadelphia. (Her shorthand was so entrenched, that decades later, she was still using it for “secret” Christmas lists she left right out in the open to befuddle her curious kids.)

In 1952, she began her harp performance major at the University of Texas. Butler School of Music in Austin, Texas where she met her future husband who was the professor of her Music History classes (and who frequently requested her apple pies).  On campus, she was president and manager of her Co-op and carried a full class load while working 3 jobs, including secretary to a church pastor.  Marie and Ron became engaged, but moved up their wedding plans more than a year, when Ron was drafted into the army during the Korean War.  They got married with only three weeks’ notice, in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, on June 30, 1954, and lived their first years together in Honolulu, Hawaii where he taught departing soldiers Morse code, and they both continued musical pursuits.

Marie continued teaching harp and piano to students in Appleton, Wisconsin, when Ron was teaching at the Conservatory of Music at Lawrence University, and in New Haven, Connecticut, when Ron was at Yale University, and ultimately when they moved to West Lafayette, Indiana in 1964, when Ron began his professorships at Purdue University. Her harp students ranged from hobbyists all the way to those who ended up pursuing harp majors at universities, and becoming professional harpists on the world stage. Beyond teaching harp, she arranged harp music, consulted on harp instruments and on finding good harpists for events around the country, had an ongoing relationship with craftsmen at the Lyon and Healy harp factory in Chicago, and had an uncanny ability to find instruments with beautiful depth of tone.  One of the greatest delights to her kids was to hear her, from elsewhere in the house, just sit down at the harp and play for the simple joy of it.

Outside of music, Marie and Ron led a lifestyle across decades of heart filled service. They were foster parents in their early years.  Later, in West Lafayette, Marie worked as Activities Director at Westminster Village retirement facility and separately as a hospice volunteer throughout Tippecanoe County. She and Ron also served for decades in a variety of tangible help services facilitating and delivering community donations to various ministries, including Lafayette Urban Ministries, sharing holiday meals in her home to boys from Cary Home, and countless clandestine acts of kindness. Marie considered it a humble privilege to serve for years as a counselor, interim director, mentor, and board member of LifeCare Services during a transition period into a growing crisis pregnancy center on the Purdue University campus.  The ministry served women and babies before, during and after crisis, (often for many years after), serving the whole family in a wide spectrum of needs, including helping people heal from the pain of past regrets.  She always led and served from the heart, forming lifelong friendships both inside the ministry and with clients.

Marie was a gifted homemaker, cook, baker and gracious hostess with a warmth that made everybody feel her heart towards them.  She was a talented artist with many pursuits, from flower gardening to porcelain painting, from upholstery to antique restoration, home designing (complete with blueprints),  and a full spectrum of fine arts and textile arts, including loom weaving, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, lace making, sewing, quilting and more.  But to all who knew her, her greatest gifts were her endless, selfless, sacrificial love and compassion to family, friends and complete strangers alike.  She expressed love in everything she did, giving of herself to bless others through meals, service to others, and supportive heart-to-heart conversations, balancing wisdom and compassion. She was a tremendous encourager to her kids, instilling in them her belief that they could accomplish anything with hard work and creative enterprise. She extended similar encouragement to everyone she met.

Marie is survived by her children Peter Berggren Kidd (Anna) of Murphy, TX, Tasha Kidd Kloepfer (Donald) of Lafayette, IN and Lesley Ingrid Kidd Turner of West Lafayette, IN; grandchildren Christopher Gregory Turner (Melissa), Jennifer Lynn Turner (Andrew), Catherine Eileen Turner, Kyle David Turner (Megan), Lorelei Elise Turner Newton (Jack) and Riley Kloepfer and wife.  Marie is also survived by 6 great grandchildren, including Christopher “Jack” Turner, Ellie Marie Turner, Cameron Joshua Turner, Clyde Samuel Newton, Baby Newton, and Great Granddaughter Kloepfer; and numerous treasured nieces, nephews and cousins.

There will be a visitation at Soller-Baker West Lafayette Chapel, 1184 Sagamore Parkway West in West Lafayette, Indiana on Tuesday, July 7^th from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., and a Celebration of Life Service at Covenant Church in West Lafayette at 11 a.m. Wednesday, July 8^th.  A private family burial will be in the mountains of Pennsylvania at the Gorsuch family cemetery at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 11, 2026.

We celebrate Marie’s life, and her reuniting with friends and family, especially her sweetheart Ron, as her faith allows her to rejoice with them together in Heaven today and forever!