Read Tributes to Kennan
Read Kennan's Obituary

Saturday, January 19th, Kennan Garvey, husband of Libby Garvey,
passed away at their home in Arlington.

A memorial meeting was held for Kennan on Saturday, February 23rd at 1pm at the Friends Meeting of Washington.
Click here to see pictures, the program, and listen to people speak at the meeting.

The Garvey family is asking for donations to Phoenix Bikes in lieu of flowers. This is a group which teaches kids how to repair bikes and was one of the organizations Kennan was planning to devote time to in his upcoming retirement. As many of you know, Kennan was an avid cyclist and always did most of the maintenance on his bikes himself. He loved working with kids and passing on his knowledge in so many areas. He would have taken great satisfaction in teaching kids to be self-reliant operators of his favorite environmentally-friendly vehicle!

The family will be working with Phoenix Bikes to direct these donations toward a much-needed small building for storage and workshops.

Please make checks payable to: Greenbrier Learning Center
IMPORTANT: In the memo line of your check, please write "Phoenix Bike Shop/Kennan Garvey Memorial"
Mail to:
5401 South 7th Rd
Arlington, VA 22204

Kennan and Libby's daughters, Shannon Hughes and Ruth Garvey, wrote the below for the Friends Meeting of Washington (FMW), the family's religious community, and would like to share it with you.

Our family is deeply touched by the many tributes, calls, and visits we have received in the past few days from the FMW community. Our father's work with FMW over the decades has truly been his ministry.

Dad played in a handball tournament Saturday morning, which he had really been looking forward to. When he came home, he wasn't feeling his usual self, but he enjoyed an afternoon playing with his grandson, Jeremiah. That evening, Mom and Dad cooked dinner, had their favorite cheap champagne and talked about all that they were planning to do in Dad's retirement, which he had just announced this week. Dad told Mom that he was so pleased Jeremiah had wanted to sit with him and read a book that afternoon. And they had played a little music together, too -- Jeremiah on the piano and Dad on his recorder. Jeremiah has been growing up lately and often wanting to be out playing with friends rather than doing more quiet things with his Abuelo, so this afternoon was very special to Dad. After dinner, Dad's sister called and they had a nice long talk about life and family. The conversation ended abruptly when Dad gasped and fell back. Mom knew immediately he'd had a heart attack, called 911 and began pumping his chest. The medics arrived quickly, but Mom was sure Dad was gone already. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. Mom is sure he did not suffer.

We are incredibly thankful and constantly remember our amazing luck to have had Dad in our lives. He and Mom have enjoyed nearly 35 wonderful years of marriage. They have shared together the joy of welcoming 3 grandchildren into the world. They have made music together, ridden 5,000 miles on their tandem bike, enjoyed many candlelit dinners, and many days full to the brim with Life and Light.

We are deeply grateful that Dad's last day with us was so full of joy and love and that, for him, his passing was quick and easy, and he was with our Mom, his best friend and the love of his life. Our family is also very blessed that we have been able to spend a great deal of time together, especially in the last few months. Through seemingly random quirks of fate, we are all together at this extremely difficult but important time, and that blessing only deepens our faith. Again, we deeply appreciate the support, love and prayers everyone is giving our family.

In the Light,
Shannon Hughes and Ruth Garvey

The following letter provides an account of messages given about Kennan at Sunday's Meeting for Worship

Dear Libby, Shannon and Ruth, and all in the Garvey Family.

Thank you for so generously sharing this account of Kennan's last day. It is a beautiful, affirming description of one day in a life well-lived.

As promised, here are some messages that were given about Kennan on Sunday in the part of Meeting for Worship that I attended; Mark and I arrived at 10:50 after food delivery for the MLK event. I am also including some notes on messages offered during Trustees.

During Meeting for Business, Molly Tully rose to speak of her profound shock and grief over Kennan's death and asked Friends to hold him and your family in the Light. Molly reminded Friends of Kennan's years of service to the Meeting, including as Clerk of FMW and as Clerk of Trustees. Molly spoke gentlyy out of the spirit and it was clear that many Friends had not been aware of Kennan's death. Deep, gathered silence followed as Friends held all of you in the Light. Another Friend spoke from the Facing Bench about the fact that messages were so naturally and appropriately alternating between Martin Luther King and Kennan Garvey, and the lessons we might learn from both these lives. I spoke about remembering how proud Kennan was of his grandchildren and looked over to the place where he and Jeremiah would often sit in the Meeting room. I reminded Friends of the beautiful message that Kennan gave a few months ago about a conversation he had had with Jeremiah about evolution and where human beings might have come from. Kennan explained with obvious delight that Jeremiah had then asked him, "What comes after us?" I noted that in Kennan's case, "what comes after" has been described in the Beautitudes, where those who are peacemakers and those who hunger and thirst for justice's sake shall see God. We need not worry if Kennan is now with God; he surely is, but we also come after him and can reflect on the way he lived his faith. I said that to have served on a committee with Kennan was a privilege, a lesson in how to truly listen, and an opportunity to observe Kennan's kind nature and generosity in his dealings and patience with others. I added that to have watched Kennan clerk Meeting for Worship was an opportunity to really see who we are and what we stand for as Quakers.

During Trustees, Friends spoke of their shock and grief over losing our Friend, over our care and concern for Libby, about how Jeremiah was doing, and how we would all reach out to your family as we were led. I spoke of two recollections I had of Kennan. First, that when Carol would get particularly agitated or cause Friends to lose all patience with her, Kennan would gently remind us of how on the occasion of Shannon's wedding, Carol came to shovel snow, how she had stepped in without being asked, and how much she wanted to be part of the FMW community. This was the way that Kennan would gently elder. I also remembered Christmas eve when we were singing Good King Wenseslas and I looked over to observe his obvious delight in hearing the singing and his daughter who knew all the verses!

My deep love and condolences go out to all your family. Thank you for having shared Kennan with all of us. He was truly a great, gentle man.

In peace,
Elise

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