Supporter Spotlight – Ruth Klette

If you’re involved with OVV in any capacity, you’ve almost certainly worked with Ruth Klette.

Ruth is a member of both the Board of Trustees and Development Committee, as well as the chair of the recent OVV Pickleball Tournament. In these roles and myriad other ways, she has become an indispensable part of the Ohio Valley Voices community.

Ruth has always loved philanthropy, a passion she credits to her father, John H. Klette, Jr. John worked closely with his childhood friend and neighbor, Elsa Sule, to establish the Elsa Heisel Sule Foundation. Ruth was so closely involved with the project that she was eventually named Trustee of the Elsa Sule Charitable Trust.

Ruth was raised in Park Hills, Kentucky as an only child. Her father was an attorney and B-17 pilot in the Second World War and Korean War. Her grandfather, John H. Klette, Sr., was also an attorney and Probate Court Judge. Following in their footsteps, Ruth decided to become an attorney as well.

Ruth received her BA and MA in Speech and Communication from the University of Cincinnati before studying at Chase Law School (it became part of Northern Kentucky University during her time there). A couple of years later, Ruth attended the Graduate Tax Law program at New York University. starsoffline  She later practiced law with her father in the areas of real estate, probate, and estate planning, and trust administration. Ruth has also worked in the areas of adoptions and litigation. 

To advance her knowledge of charitable laws and philanthropic practices, Ruth has attended philanthropic conferences on the national, state, and local levels and has received three certificates from Indiana University related to fundraising and nonprofit management. She has also been a member of Impact 100 since its inception and Social Venture Partners since 2014. 

Today, Ruth and her husband, Andy Cusher, live in Blue Ash and continue to serve on the board of the Elsa Sule Foundation. They have twins, Valerie and Jordan. Valerie lives in New York City, where she works as a project manager, and Jordan serves as the grants and program manager at Elsa Sule. In keeping with his family’s tradition of philanthropy, Jordan is also the president of Give Back Cincinnati.

In January 2017, Ruth and her fellow board members at Elsa Sule received a grant application from Ohio Valley Voices. From the start, they were impressed by the organization and, following a tour of the school led by Maria Sentelik and then-Board President Nancy Creaghead, quickly approved the grant.

Soon after the grant’s approval, Ruth attended the OVV Annual Gala, which further cemented her enthusiasm for the organization. She describes the event as “a site visit on steroids” and was particularly moved by the stories of OVV’s parents and children who were in attendance. From that moment forward, she was truly hooked on OVV.

Ruth Klette

Ruth holds Ohio Valley Voices’ mission dear to her heart. An “ah-ha” moment came a few years ago when OVV Associate Director Molly Weber was rehearsing a presentation with Ruth’s help. Molly began by inviting audience members to imagine how they would feel if their newborn children were diagnosed deaf. The prompt reminded Ruth of an experience she had had after the birth of her own son, Jordan.

Jordan, now twenty-seven, failed his newborn hearing test three times. This led to more testing at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. After two weeks of panicked uncertainty, doctors determined that Jordan was not in fact deaf. Although Ruth and her husband were relieved by the news, the memory of those two weeks stayed with them, and it was this memory that came flooding back during Molly’s presentation. Ruth understood the fear, confusion, and helplessness felt by OVV’s families because she had once felt it herself.

Ruth believes that the greatest testament to OVV’s impact is its graduates. “As a grantor,” she says, “I look for organizations that solve problems and produce exceptional outcomes. Ohio Valley Voices has educated so many young people who, despite having hearing loss, develop superlative listening and speaking skills—skills that in turn enable them to succeed at numerous endeavors whether academic, athletic, artistic, or interpersonal.”

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