Laconia-----E. Kevin Thorsell passed away on March 24, 2015 due to complications of Parkinson’s disease. E. Kevin Thorsell was born July 9, 1943, the son of Rev. Ernest A. Thorsell and Helen L. Connolly of Framingham, MA. He attended high school at Proctor Academy in Andover, NH and Gilford College where he received his BS in Biology. It is during his years at Gilford College in Greensboro, NC that he met his wife Elinor Hugh Anderson of Eden, N.C. After graduation and one-year teaching chemistry at Munson Academy in MA, they were married and moved to Upper Marlboro, MD where Kevin set up the science department at St. Ann’s Academy. Two years later he received a call from Lyle Farrell director at Proctor Academy to join the faculty in Andover, NH as science department head. During his tenure at Proctor, he earned his MST at UNH in Biology.
Kevin left Proctor to attend Harvard graduate school of education and earned his MA in Education (1974).
He spent a year as Headmaster of Lake City Academy, SC. He returned to New England with his wife and two children, Nathan E. and Erika Lynn.
That year, 1976 he became head of the science department at Laconia High School and bought the house on Pleasant Street becoming a permanent resident of Laconia.
During a 1½-year pause in his career he edited textbooks for DC Health. The following year (1983) he took the AP Biology position at Kingswood Regional High School in Wolfeboro, where he remained until the nineties when he retired due to the diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease.
In retirement, he studied for and received his coast guard certification for a Captain’s license and launched a Special Charter Service out of Kennebunk, ME. His knowledge of marine and pelagic life and the islands in the waters of the Gulf of Maine enabled him to continue teaching- this time to eager passengers.
Kevin is a published nature photographer with photos in magazines and books of Tim Deitz. He also painted, and sketched to record his observations. He loved to listen to jazz and the blues. He played clarinet and guitar.
Early on he and his wife took the advice of Dr. William Clough- who had delivered his first child at New London Hospital, “Don’t ever leave your children at home. Take them with you wherever you go.” And he did. Whether on the Georgia Sea Island with alligators or the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico or a Bob Dillon concert at UNH they were with him. He, his wife Elinor and children Nathan and Erika were always together.
Adventure was his second nature, thus the photo: His first helicopter ride at the Pittsfield Balloon Rally.
Kevin leaves his wife Elinor Hugh, his son Nathan and wife Cathy, and his daughter Erika Lynn.
There will be no funeral or wake at his request. The family plans an intimate gathering in late spring/early summer to place his urn in the family plot at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA.
In lieu of flowers and in memory of E. Kevin Thorsell the family requests donations be made to: The Mass. General Hospital (M.G.H.) – Parkinson’s Disease (P.D.)– Lewy Body Fund M.G.H. Development Office, ATTN: Shawn Fitzgibbons , 100 Cambridge Street , Suite 1310, Boston, Mass. 02114.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia NH is assisting the family with the arrangements. For more information and to view an online memorial go to www.wilkinsonbeane.com.