An Elizabethtown College education is for people who feel the pull to contribute to the world. With a network of 24,425 living alumni, our graduates leave Etown to become the influential advocates and changemakers the world needs more of.
Alumna Helen M. Hurst ’95 didn’t fit the mold of a traditional college student when she began her Elizabethtown College education in the spring of 1990. Hurst was 55 years old and had already built and managed a successful business before stepping foot on campus. As co-founder of Kountry Kraft Custom Cabinetry, along with her husband Elvin in 1959, Hurst worked as a manager and a bookkeeper for the company until 1988 when her daughter Dee asked Helen if she could help assist as office manager.
“Our company was not large enough for the both of us, and she would not become who she needed to be as long as I was there,” Hurst said. “I was 53 years old, and my career was behind me.”
After a conversation with a friend, Hurst realized that one of her dreams was incomplete — receiving a college education.
Hurst left public school at age 15 to work on her parent’s farm but worked to get her GED at 30 years old. An avid reader, Hurst never stopped learning, taking a six-week course in typing and a public accounting course by mail to keep up with the growing cabinetry company. The entirety of her adult learning had been done while helping with Kountry Kraft and raising her children.
Starting out in 1959 as a one-car garage, Kountry Kraft transformed into an enormously successful custom cabinetry business with a modern 96,000-square-foot facility in Lebanon County, Pa. The company began when Helen surprised her husband Elvin with a table saw for Christmas, and he began using it to build high-quality cabinetry for friends. Since then, the business has grown to employ more than 100 skilled craftsmen.
Eager to return to school, Hurst began to explore higher education institutions and chose Etown for its proximity to Kountry Kraft. She was also drawn to the College’s foundational values, which included Etown’s commitment to preparing more than 24,000 living alumni across the world to engage as global citizens and peacemakers.
After starting at Etown as a Forestry major, Hurst quickly realized she was passionate in all areas. After initially being denied, Hurst was granted the College’s first Liberal Studies major following a convincing and determined appeal directly to then-President Gerhard Spiegler. The impact of that decision can be seen today in the growth of non-traditional degree programs at the College, which has become a leader in adult education through the School of Graduate and Professional Studies by offering flexible, accelerated degrees for busy, working students.
“I was one of the few non-traditional students that went to class during the day,” Hurst recalled. “I was old enough to be the mother of some of my teachers.”
Hurst’s real-world experiences offered valuable perspective for her classmates.
“Helen always asked the most thought-provoking questions in class,” Elizabethtown College Vice President for Institutional Advancement, Brian Falck ’95 said. “It was clear that she was driven by an innate curiosity and life experience we did not yet have. We were all better off for it.”
After taking a Political Science course, Hurst took an internship in state Rep. Thomas Armstrong’s Elizabethtown office, assisting his office manager. At times, Hurst went to the state Capitol complex and witnessed then-Gov. Tom Ridge sign a bill that Armstrong worked on.
After experiencing a wide array of coursework, Hurst graduated cum laude on May 20, 1995, walking very last in line as the only one in her major.
“Since I was last, I could hop, skip, and jump all the way to my seat,” Hurst said. “I didn’t mind that I was the last one because wherever my seat was, I earned it.”
After graduating, Hurst created the Helen M. Hurst ’95 Endowment Fund for the Bowers Writers House, which provides crucial student resources that would not be possible without her generous support.
Hurst and her husband, Elvin retired in 2003 after turning the keys over to two of their children Elvin Jr. and Dee, who continue to uphold their parent’s legacy and legendary work.
Hurst continues to share her love of learning with everyone around her.
“I attended Elizabethtown College to enrich my life,” Hurst said. “Enrich it, I did, in many more ways than what I could have imagined! It certainly enhanced my love of learning.”
View more Etown Changemakers at etown.edu/125.