Kathryn Heile

Kathryn Heile, 93, of Lexington, South Carolina, died May 10, 2026. Born October 2, 1932, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, she was the daughter of Frank and Ruth Young Boyer. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education in 1954 from Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio.

For thirty-five years, Kathryn served as an elementary school teacher, teaching 2nd through 5th grade in Cleveland, Ohio, and in Columbia and Greenville, South Carolina. Her life’s work reflected a devoted commitment to children and learning, carried out with the steady care for which she was so beloved.

In 1959, Kathryn married Bob Heile. They shared 55 years of marriage until Bob’s death in 2014. Together they lived in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland before settling in South Carolina in 1967. She was predeceased by her sister, Vivien Carter. She is survived by her brother, Sam Boyer (Joan Funk) of Huntington Station, New York, and her sister, Sevilla Morse of Winter Park, Florida. She is also survived by her two children, Gretchen Leib (Jonathan) of Norfolk, Virginia, and Martha Fanning (William) of Lexington, South Carolina; and three grandchildren, Grace Fanning of New York City, Sam Fanning of West Columbia, South Carolina, and Charlotte Leib of Norfolk, Virginia.

Kathryn loved music and sang in her church choir for many years. She also enjoyed playing card and board games, and she followed her teams with enthusiasm as an avid South Carolina Gamecocks and Pittsburgh Pirates fan. She took particular pride in the retirement house she and Bob built on Lake Cooley in Inman, South Carolina—a place that reflected the care and devotion they brought to the life they built together.

She was a P.E.O. sister and volunteered at the Greer, South Carolina Soup Kitchen, giving her time in service to others with a generous spirit and a kind heart. She remained devoted to the people and places she called community, especially her friends at The Village at Southlake, where she lived for eleven years following Bob’s death.

Funeral services will be held Friday, May 15, 2026 at 4:00 pm at Lexington United Methodist Church 309 E. Main St. Lexington, SC 29072. Visitation will follow the service at the home of William and Martha Fanning in Lexington, SC.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Greer Soup Kitchen, 521 East Poinsett Street, Greer, South Carolina 29651.