Kimberly Ellen Darling

It is with profound sadness that we share the news of our sister's untimely death. Kimberly Ellen Darling, age 70 of Worthington, Ohio passed away on February 22, 2026 after an unexpected short illness. She was surrounded by family when she passed. Born on June 12, 1955 in Cleveland, Ohio, she was the loving daughter of the late Glenn Alan Darling and Elizabeth Darling Heighberger (nee Klingeman). Loving sister to Deborah Darling, Kelly Pekoc (Mark) and Makenzie Darling. Also survived by cousins, Lori Krug (Steve) and Chase Darling (Shawn), step-sister Holly Jo Heighberger and a large extended family.

Kim was a graduate of Glen Oak High School in Gates Mills, Ohio and The Ohio State University, in Columbus, Ohio. She went on to theological seminary school receiving a Master of Divinity and became a Methodist minister. Her parishioners loved her and were very upset when she decided to retire early from the ministry. She was a great healer and saved her older sister’s life on several occasions with her healing gifts.

She had a very inquisitive mind and had a life-long love of learning. It was nothing for her to take up 3-4 foreign languages at a time, take a course in pharmacology, another in nursing, trucking, the list goes on and on. She loved animals, especially Labrador retrievers, and her family. She was an artist and loved to travel. She spent a semester in Japan when she was in college and traveled to Australia and New Zealand. She had a beautiful home in Santa Fe, New Mexico before moving back closer to home. In her later years, she became quite reclusive but that was when her delight in learning became even more apparent.

She was intelligent, beautiful, strong, fiercely independent and very private. She lived life on her own terms. She will be greatly missed and the world will shine less brightly without her in it.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations may be made in her name to Rescue Village, 15463 Chillicothe Road, Novelty, Ohio 44072. A celebration of Kim’s life will be held at a later date.