Kevin Charles Lavelle

SANTA Fe, NM – Kevin Charles Lavelle, 64, died at home on Friday evening, November 15, after a nearly two-year face-off with metastatic pancreatic cancer. He was with family including his wife of three years, Rachel Thompson, and his daughter Sarah Lavelle. After Kevin elected to stop treatment for his cancer in early October, he had the nearly constant companionship of family and friends.

Kevin taught philosophy to undergraduates and at area community colleges for more than twenty-five years until he was forced into retirement by his illness in the spring of 2018. He introduced countless students – many the first in their families to attend college -- to the basics of logic and critical thinking, ancient and modern philosophy, and biomedical and business ethics. He loved classroom teaching and also taught online. He taught especially at the Albuquerque campus of Central New Mexico Community College and Santa Fe Community College.

Kevin was passionate about democratic politics and the welfare of ordinary citizens, including his students’. He read several blogs and newspaper websites daily and was a frequent participant in many online political discussions. He was an avid explorer of federal and Native American lands, mapping out trips and camping with friends along rarely-traveled routes west and north into Canada and Alaska. His international travels began with an SFCC-organized trip to Greece in 2013. After his cancer diagnosis he and Rachel were able to return to Crete and to visit Istanbul.

Most of all, Kevin loved his family.

Kevin was born in Youngstown, Ohio on November 9, 1955. His father, Joseph P. Lavelle, was completing his medical residency as an OB-GYN. When a snowstorm prevented other doctors from reaching the hospital, Joe delivered Kevin himself. Shortly thereafter the family moved to San Francisco, as both families had roots in California. A young Kevin roved his Richmond neighborhood just blocks away from Golden Gate Park in a pair of square-toed cowboy boots and a holster. Kevin’s mother Claire A. (McPhee) Lavelle died after a short illness when Kevin was four.

Joseph Lavelle remarried and the family, which eventually grew to nine children, moved in 1966 to Burlingame. At Serra High School, Kevin met his lifelong friend Scott Ryan and discovered the West Coast rock scene. After graduation, he enrolled at California State University/Chico. At the urging of his college mentor, he transferred to Reed College in Portland, Ore. from which he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1980.

Kevin met his first wife, Stacey Goodwin, at Reed. Together they moved to Albuquerque for graduate school at UNM. Kevin completed his Master’s in Philosophy at UNM in 1988 while Stacey studied law. They were married in 1987, moved to Santa Fe, and had a daughter, Sarah, in 1997. The marriage ended in divorce in 2004. Kevin married Nancy Jane (Broderdorp) Lavelle in 2005. Nancy died of breast cancer in 2010.

Kevin’s third wife, Rachel, wrote to him via an internet dating site in 2013.  After a year of visiting each other cross-country, she moved to Santa Fe and they were married in 2016. They lived happily together with their two kitties.

Kevin is survived by his daughter Sarah Margaret Lavelle of Albuquerque; by his stepmother Nancy Lavelle of Burlingame, Calif.; and by eight siblings and their families: Joseph (Rick) Lavelle (Hiromi Ushimaru) of Scotts Valley; Dick Lavelle (Bridgie) of Scotts Valley; Tom Lavelle (Janet) of Nipomo; Barbara Suda (Jerry) of Westfield, N.J.; Teri Lavelle (Joe O’Connor) of Downer’s Grove, Ill., Ann Chisam (Marc) of Williamsburg, Va.; Steve Lavelle (Susan) of San Jose, and Susie Worrall (Mark) of Burlingame. Kevin also had 19 nieces and nephews.

A memorial service for Kevin will be held in early January in Santa Fe.       

Those wishing to make a gift in his memory may send a contribution to Solace Crisis Treatment Center (www.findsolace.org).