This memorial website was created
in the memory of Kevin V. Kennedy.

Myles Kennedy says he was more than Kevin’s dad.

He taught the fallen Canadian soldier in high school at St. Lawrence Academy and coached his boy in a variety of sports, especially basketball and soccer.

Besides being a “top athlete,” Myles Kennedy says Kevin was a “person magnet.

“People wanted to be around him. He would walk into a room and just his mere presence and charisma would just lighten up the room. If it was gloomy, all of a sudden everybody was laughing. He had very, very strong leadership skills ... He was always a leader at everything he went at.” Including, he says, the Canadian military.

“Kevin would say, ‘If you see evil and you don’t confront it and if you see evil and evil is causing mayhem and you don’t confront it, somewhere down the line you are going to be forced to confront it.’ ”

The 20-year-old Kennedy, who grew up in St. Lawrence, was one of six Canadian soldiers killed in a roadside bomb attack in southern Afghanistan Sunday. Sgt. Donald Lucas of St. John’s also died in the incident. Both Newfoundlanders and two of the other soldiers killed were members of 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, which is based in Gagetown, N.B.

“Kevin was well-liked in the military among his peers,” says his father. “Kevin was the go-to guy. When guys were complaining, he’d turned around and say, ‘Boys, let’s suck it up.’ He was well admired. I can tell you that.”

Wade Rowsell, the mayor of Kennedy’s hometown of about 1,500 people, remembered a young man with a lot of potential.

“Kevin was certainly very jovial, very witty, and a character of sorts, and a leader,” Roswell said in an interview Sunday.

“He was always military-minded, wanted a career in the military to serve his country, and certainly he did admirably.”

He said Kennedy moved away from St. Lawrence after graduating from high school a number of years ago and began his military training.

He said the tight-knit community will be deeply affected by the news.

“It’s very difficult to heal the wounded heart. We have to be proud of his efforts for his country. This young gentleman had so much to offer and it’s really tragic.”