Joseph (Joe) Michael Kurta

March 15, 1950 – May 22, 2015

Joe was born in Lorain, Ohio into a largely eastern European immigrant community. He grew up speaking Slovak as well as English and later got to see his mother’s village nestled in the mountains of Slovakia.

Joe attended Catholic school at Holy Trinity Church where his sense of humor survived the frequent chastisements of ruler-wielding nuns. He also received a solid education from the sisters. Joe served as an altar boy for many masses.

He played football and was an Honors student at Lorain High School.  After graduation in 1968, he did welding and other assembly line jobs at the Ford Motor Company car plant in Lorain.

Joe attended Lehigh University, PA on a football scholarship and later graduated from Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering.

He was hired to work at the 100N nuclear reactor facility where he enjoyed applying his mechanical engineering skills. He later worked at Hanford’s KE/KW and 200 areas and Mission Support Alliance in Richland. He retired after 30 years of service at Hanford.

Joe learned a life-long love of hiking from his older brother Mike who took Joe and his sister Helen traipsing through the Ohio woods. Throughout his time in the Northwest, that passion grew as he followed many trails through the Cascade and Rocky Mountain ranges.  He loved downhill skiing and later golf. Joe avidly followed sports, especially football and car racing. He also enjoyed relaxing with a good book.

Joe was preceded in death by his parents, Michael and Josephine Kurta and his brother Michael (Mike) Joseph Kurta.

 Joe is survived by his wife Karen Starkey Kurta, sister, Helen Deck & brother-in-law Bill, sister-in-law Margie Kurta, brother-in-law Bob Starkey and his wife, Ruth. He is also survived by: nephew Paul Kurta and his wife, Carol, niece Anne Kurta, niece Susan Kurta Wilkerson and her husband Greg and their daughter, Samantha,  niece Angie (Deck) Swiderski and her husband Ted and their sons, Brad, J.T. and Michael, niece Tracy (Deck) Weller and her husband Chris and their children, Drew, Jake and Evie, nephew Billy Deck and his wife Edie, nephew Stephen Deck and his wife Margie and their sons, James and Alex, nieces Catie and Mariah Starkey, nephew Karl Starkey and his wife Sara, nephews Jonathan and Benjamin Starkey, golfing  buddies, Dave and Rich and three cats.

Joe’s generous spirit and quick sense of humor will be sorely missed by those who were close to him. Donations can be made in his memory to the American Heart Association.