FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 5, 2024
Cincinnati Museum Center to honor forces for nature Helen Black and Cathy Chapman
Lifelong naturalists to be honored with John A. Ruthven Medal of Distinction
CINCINNATI – Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC) is honoring lifelong naturalists Helen Black and Cathy Chapman with its John A. Ruthven Medal of Distinction. The close friends and forces for nature will be honored at an event on November 12.
“Helen’s and Cathy’s legacies echo through the wilds they helped protect,” said Elizabeth Pierce, president & CEO of Cincinnati Museum Center. “They were unparalleled in the number of acres they personally helped preserve, lacing up their boots and leading at the head of every trail. Their impact will be felt by the hikers and budding naturalists who bask in the beauty of our natural world.”
Helen Black was a product of the world around her, growing up playing in the woods and marveling at the beauty of the natural world. Inspired by renowned ecologist and early preservationist E. Lucy Braun, Helen spent 50 years as a volunteer at the Richard & Lucile Durrell Edge of Appalachia Preserve System, co-managed by CMC and The Nature Conservancy of Ohio. She was there when the Durrells founded the first 42-acre tract and saw it grow to more than 21,000 acres. Helen spent those five decades cutting down small red cedar trees and dragging them away, building trail systems in the wilderness, monitoring water systems, collecting and planting seeds to restore a pasture to a fine prairie and leading hikes. When CMC’s Chris Bedel took over as Preserve Director, it was Helen who trained him on the property boundaries, plants and animals. 
“Helen was a woman of indomitable spirt yet beyond kind and caring,” Bedel said of his late companion on the trails. “She worked to build the [Edge of Appalachia] Preserve acre-by-acre, person-by-person. It’s safe to say if it were not for Helen C. Black, the Preserve would not be the scale or success it is today.”
Helen was a member of the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History’s board for over 20 years and, as it was preparing to merge with the Cincinnati Historical Society, she served a term as chairperson of the capital campaign to assure its successful move to Union Terminal. She then joined the CMC board in 1995, serving until 2004, when she was named a lifetime emeritus trustee.
Beyond her dedication to CMC, Helen was involved in over a dozen organizations that supported and protected the region’s wild spaces. She was part of the group who founded the 175-acre Cincinnati Nature Center in 1965 and would go on to become a lifetime member of its board, watching it grow to over 1,600 acres. She began her service as a trustee of the Ohio Chapter of the Nature Conservancy in 1965, serving as Ohio Board Chair from 1976 to 1977 and on the national board from 1977 to 1983. The Nature Conservancy honored Helen with its highest honors, both nationally and at the state level, three times: with its Silver Oak Leaf Award in 1970, Green Leaf Award in 1972 and the Silver Bowl in 1980. She led the charge to achieve National Wild and Scenic River Status for the Little Miami River in 1968 and State Scenic River status the following year. In 2008, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources inducted Helen into its Ohio Conservation Hall of Fame.
Ruthven’s friend, contemporary and 2022 Medal of Distinction recipient Charley Harper likened Helen’s demeanor to that of a wood thrush: normally quiet and happy living in the shadows, but when it sings, everyone listens.
Cathy could likewise be found in wild spaces around the world. She grew up backpacking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and, after two years in Holland and the United Kingdom, spent over 20 years as a biology teacher and field hockey coach in Colorado. Upon moving to Cincinnati in 1972, Cathy found herself at home in the prairies, rocky outcrops and towering trees of the Edge of Appalachia Preserve System. She was an ardent preservationist and a spirited defender of the natural world – despite a lifelong quest to eradicate garlic mustard from the trails and forests she loved. Her kind heart and voluminous knowledge of nature was unbounded and proved infectious. Defending natural spaces from the threats of invasive plants was no small task, but Cathy accepted the challenge with a smile, determination and a cup of hot soup and crackers.
“Cathy was unabashedly down to Earth, and the natural world was her realm,” said Bedel. “Her botanical skills were deep, and she put them to good use surveying rare plants, advising on restoration efforts and her favorite pastime – teaching others. Her years of selfless dedication to teaching is evidenced by the hundreds of people walking the Earth who she has taught and inspired to celebrate and protect nature.”
Cathy served on CMC’s Board of Trustees and Museum of Natural History & Science Advisory Board before being named a lifetime emeritus trustee. She also served on the boards of both the Ohio and Kentucky chapters of The Nature Conservancy and the Cincinnati Nature Center. Though she traveled the world to experience nature in all its diverse glory, Cathy always returned to the Edge of Appalachia Preserve System with walking sticks in hand, determined to defend its natural spaces at all costs. When she could no longer roam the mountains, forests and prairies, she took up painting with pastels, with the birds and wild landscapes she so loved flowing from a lifetime spent among them, through the bristles and onto her canvas.
“A trip to the [Edge of Appalachia] Preserve with Helen and Cathy was like opening a book of real-world pages from which the outdoors flowed. Not just the facts about plants, animals and ecology, but the pure joy of experiencing nature,” reminisced Sandy Shipley, who enjoyed numerous hikes with Helen and Cathy during her 34-year career with Cincinnati Museum Center.
“Wilderness still exists, in large part, because of these women,” added Pierce. “And because of them, future naturalists will gleefully hike in Helen’s and Cathy’s muddy bootprints to lose themselves and find their purpose in nature.”
Helen and Cathy will be honored during a luncheon at Cincinnati Museum Center on Tuesday, November 12.
The John A. Ruthven Medal of Distinction was established by CMC in 2019, inspired by Ruthven’s lifetime of exploration, preservation and advocacy. Just as Ruthven carried forward the legacies of those naturalists who came before him, the award allows new generations to be inspired to carry forward Ruthven’s legacy.
The John A. Ruthven Medal of Distinction is awarded to those personally contributing to the field of natural history and to CMC’s collection and research programs. Part of the criteria for the award is that the individual’s contributions further the preservation, research and advocacy of natural history in the Greater Cincinnati area.
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About Cincinnati Museum Center
Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC) at Union Terminal is a nationally recognized, award-winning institution housed in a National Historic Landmark. CMC is a vital community resource that sparks curiosity, inspiration, epiphany and dialogue. CMC was awarded the 2009 National Medal for Museum and Library Service from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and received accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums in 2012, one of a select few museums in the nation to receive both honors. Organizations within CMC include the Cincinnati History Museum, Museum of Natural History & Science, The Children’s Museum, Robert D. Lindner Family OMNIMAX® Theater, Cincinnati History Library and Archives and the Geier Collections and Research Center. Housed in historic Union Terminal – a National Historic Landmark restored in 2018 and recognized as the nation’s 45th most important building by the American Institute of Architects – CMC welcomes more than 1.8 million visits annually, making it one of the most visited museums in the country. For more information, visit feverforfreedom.com.
