Helene Loren Walker, 70, board chair and past president of the Kentland Foundation and a real estate broker, died of cancer
May 21 at her home in Leesburg.
Ms. Walker worked for the Berryville-based foundation, one of Virginia's top 50 foundations as measured by the size of its
assets, from its formation in 1970 until her death. She was its secretary-treasurer from 1970 to 1994.
Born in Hamburg, she was raised in Washington and graduated from Western High School. She attended American University
and graduated from what is now Trinity University in Washington, a member of its first class in the education for parish services
program.
She worked in real estate, first for Dravillas Co. in the District, then as founding broker of Walker Co. in Maryland, Virginia and
West Virginia. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Kentland Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Otis
Beall Kent, a Gaithersburg tax lawyer and conservationist.
In 1976, Ms. Walker moved to Gaithersburg, where she became a member of St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church and
volunteered for parish activities, became parish council president, and supported Catholic education and the anti-abortion
movement. She served on the board of the school, Shady Grove Pregnancy Center and the EPS Foundation. She was a member
of the Cardinal's Appeal of the Washington Archdiocese. She also enjoyed world travel, including numerous pilgrimages to the
Holy Land and Rome.
Her marriages to Thomas O'Neill and Leo J. Walker ended in divorce.
Survivors include a daughter from her first marriage, Sheila O'Neill Stedman of North Potomac; six children from her second
marriage, Juliana MacDowell of Hamilton, Va., Jack Walker of Ashburn, Lexie Hoffman of Middleburg, Billy Walker of Potomac
Falls, Helene McCarron of Leesburg and Celeste Walker of Washington; a brother, William Loren of Berryville; and 12
grandchildren.
2006