Kathi Heft-Flint
After an illness that began this past February, Kathleen Helen Heft-Flint passed on October 27, 2011 at 3:32 pm. Kathi was a retired Travis County employee and spent each spring and summer for the last 28 years counseling at risk teens with The PEAKS Adventure Camp Program of the Texas Network of Youth Services. Kathi was born in Pittsburgh, PA on December 26, 1953, and moved with her parents and brother to Houston, TX in 1966. Kathi graduated Bellaire High School, received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Social Work from the University of Texas in Austin, and a Master of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State in Huntsville.
She began a career in Social Work with the Texas Youth Commission Crockett Therapeutic Camping Program. During that position, she met colleagues and together they created the PEAKS Camp in 1984. From there, Kathi moved to Austin and worked for Middle Earth in their Transitional Living Program. In 1991, she accepted a position with Travis County Adult Probation, but still spent every year as the canoeing instructor for the PEAKS Adventure Camp.
Kathi had an amazing green thumb, was an avid gardener, and everyone who knew her was jealous of her tomatoes and peppers. She enjoyed reading, listening to music, was a magnet for children, and loved her Dallas Cowboys. Kathi is survived by her husband, Ron and was a loving and devoted mother to Elizabeth. She was preceded in death by her father and mother, Clarence Paul and Adriana Helen deMelker Heft and younger brother, Robert Paul Heft. Kathi will be fondly and deeply remember by family and friends and we will miss her always.
The family will receive friends from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at Cook-Walden/Forest Oaks Funeral Home. Funeral Services will be held at 1:00 p.m., Wednesday, November 2, 2011 in the Chapel of Cook-Walden/Forest Oaks Funeral Home with Dr. Ken Baldwin officiating. Interment will follow the services at Cook-Walden/Forest Oaks Memorial Park. For those desiring, the family would like contributions made in Kathi's memory to The PEAKS Adventure Camp Program of the Texas Network of Youth Services. www.tnoys.org Condolences may be made at www.cookwaldenforestoaks.com.
Published in Austin American-Statesman on October 30, 2011
