Former area couple making the most of life
By Jeff Pikulsky
VALLEY INDEPENDENT
Saturday, March 8, 2008


Rita Kinder has found the upside in dealing with the disease that has confined her once-active husband to a wheelchair.
After her spouse, Ken, 68, was stricken with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, she began helping others cope with having someone in their family who suffers from the disease.

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive disease that attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, resulting in muscle weakness and atrophy.

The disease was especially debilitating for Ken Kinder.

In a matter of weeks, the former retail sales manager and successful car salesman went from being active to immobile.
"Within two weeks, Kenny went from walking and playing any sport to being confined to a wheelchair, so that's how quickly it came on," Rita Kinder said.

Rita Kinder, 67, formerly worked as a research assistant for the Institute for Defense Analysis, a government think tank linked to the Department of Defense and the White House in matters of military advancement and national defense.

She was later employed by Bon Secours Health Systems Inc., as executive assistant to a chief executive officer of one of the system's primary companies, the Central Virginia Health Network.

After her husband was diagnosed with ALS in May 2002, Rita Kinder quit her job to care for him.

The two believe that their strong commitment to each other is the reason Ken Kinder has lived this long with the disease.

"If it wasn't for her, then there wouldn't be me," Ken Kinder said of his wife. "The saving grace is in the fact that I've had a wife that has been more than anybody could ever expect."

Rita Kinder said ALS patients usually survive for only two to three years after their diagnosis.

She admires her husband's fighting spirit.

"He is just too unwilling to go out without a fight," she said. "He inherited that steelworker grit."

The Kinders live in Midlothian, Va.

A Belle Vernon native, Rita Galiotto Kinder graduated from Bellmar High School in 1959.

Ken Kinder, who grew up in Charleroi, graduated from Charleroi High School in 1958.

Both children of steelworkers, the Kinders married in 1961 at St. Sebastian Church in North Belle Vernon.

Soon after, they left the Mid-Mon Valley for Silver Spring, Md., when Ken Kinder was transferred there by G.C. Murphy Co.

Kinder worked as an assistant manager.

He and his wife moved a number of times because of the job.

The couple ended up in the Richmond, Va., area, where Ken Kinder worked as director of personnel for G.C. Murphy stores from New York to Louisiana and Texas.

G.C. Murphy was sold in 1985.

Ken Kinder began working for the Whitten Brothers Jeep Chrysler Mazda dealership in Richmond.

For seven of his nine years there, Ken was honored as being one of the top 50 Jeep salesmen in the United States.

He was later promoted to sales manager for Whitten's Jeep and Chrysler divisions.

In 1996, doctors found cancer in its late stages on Ken Kinder's foot.

The Kinders said a close "Pittsburgh Steeler friend" who was a physician graduate of Duke University, used his influence to have Ken Kinder entered into an experimental treatment program.

After 11 months, he was cancer free.

Ken Kinder returned to work and became operations manager of the Whitten dealership.

He began to have problems with his legs in 2002. That led to doctor's office visits and his eventual ALS diagnosis.

Because of her husband's experiences, Rita Kinder has become a patient advocate working with others diagnosed with cancer and ALS.

Two years ago, when many Medicare patients were having difficulties selecting a Medicare prescription drug program, she presented an address at the National Association of ALS conference in Washington, D.C.

She spoke about Medicare from a consumer's perspective.

Rita Kinder has frequently helped families cope with cancer and ALS.

She decided to find the good in her husband's afflictions.

"We used to say we felt these things have been placed upon us so we can help other people through trials," she said.

Although they have spent most of their lives away from the Valley, the Kinders agree that the people they grew up with and the values they learned there remain deeply rooted in their hearts.

"That tie from the Valley never goes away," Ken Kinder said. "It's something that you never lose, the feeling that you have toward the people there. As you grow older, your relationships with the people there intensify."

Ken Kinder said living in the Valley's diverse ethnic culture helped him learn how to relate to many different kinds of people.

He said that made him a successful businessman.

"It certainly gave me the opportunity to be confronted with people of all different races, colors, creeds and everything else," Ken Kinder said of his Valley upbringing.

The Kinders took a piece of home with them to Virginia, where they started a Pittsburgh Steelers club.

The two Steel City fans said black and gold will always be in their blood.

"It runs through our veins," Ken Kinder said as he recalled watching Pittsburgh teams win championships in the 1970s.

The Kinders return to the Valley a few times a year to visit friends and some of their family members in the Pittsburgh area.

"We come back as often as we can," Ken Kinder said. "Our relationships with the people who live there, that's the big thing that brings us back. Plus, when we do come back, we never feel like a stranger."

The Kinders would like to one day return to their roots.

"If we can find buyers for our home, we'd do it in a heartbeat," Rita Kinder said. "We still feel like we're part of the Valley. We moved, but we feel like we're still there mentally. Scenery is one thing; people are another.

"We've lived around the way. I don't think our hearts ever left the Valley."

The Kinders have two children and three grandchildren.

Their daughter, Lynn Coughlin, 48, is an accountant with a custom motorcycle manufacturer in Dublin, Calif.

Their son, Jason Kinder, 36, of Midlothian, is director of a health club tennis facility.

Their grandchildren are Hannah, 19, a college student in San Francisco; Ryan, 13, and Caroline, 5.


Jeff Pikulsky can be reached at jpikulsky@tribweb.com.

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