DEATH ANNOUNCEMENT
HELLEN CHEPKOECH ROTICH
“Mama Kevin”
12 March 1960 – 9 November 2026
Uasin Gishu farmer and church mother who ran every race beside her son, in prayer
It is with great sorrow and acceptance of God's will that we announce the passing of HELLEN CHEPKOECH ROTICH, farmer and elder of the AIC Kapseret Mothers' Union, on 9th November 2026 at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Eldoret. Wife of Joel Kiprotich Rotich; mother to Faith and Brian and the late Kevin; mother-in-law to Dennis and Mercy; grandmother to seven. Family and friends meet daily at Kapseret at 5.00 pm. Cortege leaves Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital Mortuary on Saturday 28th November for a funeral service at AIC Kapseret Church, followed by burial at the family farm. M-Pesa Paybill 512974, Account MAMAKEVIN. Rest in peace, Mama.
Hellen Chepkoech Rotich never ran a competitive race in her life, yet she finished more of them than anyone. She stood at the finish line of every race her son Kevin ever ran, from the village cross-country to Eldoret's Kipchoge Keino Stadium, with a flask of sweet tea in one hand and her rosary in the other. After he passed away in January 2024, she still stood at the finish line each Saturday, and the young runners who trained on the Kapseret road adopted her as their mother.
She was born in Moiben in 1960, the sixth of ten children of a maize and dairy farmer. She finished primary school, married Joel Kiprotich Rotich in 1982, and moved to a two-acre plot at Kapseret that grew into a thirty-acre farm of maize, wheat and eleven Friesian cows. She woke at four to milk, delivered litres of milk to the Eldoret cooling plant, and was home before the children left for school.
Hellen raised four children and buried one with a dignity that humbled everyone who watched. She served as an elder in the Mothers' Union at AIC Kapseret for twenty years and organised the church's annual food drive for families affected by the cold season. Her mursik was famous at every wedding in the village, and no athlete ever left her kitchen hungry.
She loved gospel radio, quiet mornings with the cows, and teaching the young runners to ignore the clock and listen to their legs. She died at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital on 9 November 2026 after a short illness.
She leaves her husband Joel, her children Faith and Brian, seven grandchildren, and a roadside full of runners who will keep her tea warm.
“Run with your legs, finish with your heart.”