State Agriculture Commissioner Walt Helmick (center) enjoys a beef kabob as he talks with Jim Bostic and others during the “Beef for Father’s Day Event†hosted by the Department of Agriculture and the West Virginia Beef Industry Council at the Capitol Market on June 3, 2015.
State Agriculture Commissioner Walt Helmick (center) enjoys a beef kabob as he talks with Jim Bostic and others during the “Beef for Father’s Day Event†hosted by the Department of Agriculture and the West Virginia Beef Industry Council at the Capitol Market on June 3, 2015.
Gazette-Mail file photo
Walt Helmick, a former high school welding instructor and small business owner who went on to a career in public office that included 22 years in the West Virginia Senate and a term as state Agriculture Commissioner, died Saturday at age 81.
A native of Webster Springs, Helmick studied welding after graduating from high school and went on to teach welding at Pocahontas County High School and establish H and S Welding Supply in Marlinton in 1973.
His debut as an elected official took place in 1976, when he was voted into a term on the Pocahontas County Board of Education, followed two years later by his election to the Pocahontas County Commission, where he served until being elected to the House of Delegates in 1988.
Walt Helmick was the West Virginia Agriculture Commissioner from 2013-2017. He died Sept. 6, 2025 at 81.
Gazette-Mail file photo
In 1989, Helmick, a Democrat, was appointed to fill a vacancy in the state Senate — a seat he held until 2012, including eight years as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He was elected state agriculture commissioner, serving from 2013 to 2017. Helmick was defeated in a bid for reelection to that post by Ken Leonhardt, the current commissioner and the Republican candidate he defeated in his successful bid for the office four years earlier.
Helmick was elected to a second stint with the Pocahontas County Commission in 2018, and later served as its president. In 2024, he opted not to run for reelection.
Outside of public life, Helmick and his wife, Rita, operated a 200-acre farm and a spring water bottling company at the site of the former Allegheny Lodge at Minnehaha Springs in Pocahontas County. They are the parents of four children.
Helmick was a graduate of the West Virginia Institute of Technology and a member of the board of trustees at Pocahontas Memorial Hospital.
'More than a public servant'
Gov. Patrick Morrisey on Tuesday ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff at all state facilities to commemorate the life and service of Helmick.
"I am saddened by the passing of Walt Helmick, who spent many years of his life serving our state," Morrisey said. "Walt was a dedicated public servant whose decades of leadership — from serving his local community in Pocahontas County to his long tenure in the West Virginia State Senate, and later as our state's Commissioner of Agriculture — left a lasting mark on West Virginia. His efforts improved the lives of many, especially those in our rural communities he cherished so deeply."
“Walt Helmick was more than a public servant — he was a true son of West Virginia who loved this state and its people with his whole heart,†said Mike Pushkin, chairman of the West Virginia Democratic Party. “He brought wisdom, civility, and a quiet strength to his work in the Legislature and as Agriculture Commissioner. Walt's passing is a tremendous loss for our state.â€
The West Virginia Senate president echoed that sentiment.
"Walt was a dynamic public servant who spent his entire career dedicated to serving the people of West Virginia and his beloved Pocahontas County," said state Senate President Randy Smith. "Whether as a senator, the state's commissioner of agriculture, or as a Pocahontas County Commissioner, he served with a heart toward doing the best for West Virginia."
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