Eric Kavanagh honored, laid to rest

He loved music and playing the guitar, but military service is where Eric Matthew Kavanagh found his calling, family and friends said.

"Behind that happy, huggy, gentle guitar player, there was grit and determination," said the Rev. Dr. W. Terry Schoener of Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park. Mr. Schoener recalled how, even before he went to basic training, he started running and working out, readying himself for boot camp.

Wednesday, friends, family and neighbors mourned the loss of the 20-year-old Army private and Severna Park native who was killed in Baghdad last week.

According to the Defense Department, Private Kavanagh died Sept. 20 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his purpose vehicle during combat operations. He was the fourth member of the military from Maryland to be killed in Iraq over the past two weeks.

During a short but somber service Wednesday at Woods Memorial, Private Kavanagh's uncle read a letter written by his father, Kevin Kavanagh, who called his son a "gentle soul."

He "always had a smile on his face, a smile so strong it beamed with love, enthusiasm and compassion," the letter said. "My son Eric is a hero, but to each of us, he is so much more. He joined the Army an enthusiastic boy and became a confident man."

Private Kavanagh attended Folger McKinsey Elementary School, Severna Park Middle School and Chesapeake High School.

"He wasn't exactly the school-type," said Jessica Studnicky, 20, a former neighbor and friend. "But he was very clever and quick-witted."

"He was a dreamer," added Rich Chrisman, who knew Private Kavanagh in elementary and middle school.

Ms. Studnicky said she heard about Private Kavanagh's death Sunday, then went online to find former classmates, who reunited Wednesday at the service.

Ms. Studnicky and her mother, Michelle Studnicky, recalled when Private Kavanagh came over and helped them remove a three-inch blanket of leaves from their yard as they prepared for Halloween.

"He was just that kind of guy," Michelle Studnicky said.

Several of Private Kavanagh's friends said they lost touch with him after middle school. He worked at the Maryland Pennysaver for a while, but wasn't satisfied with working 9 to 5. He obtained his GED, then enlisted, serving in the Army's 26th Infantry of the 1st Division Blue Spaders.

Jessica Studnicky said the last time she saw Private Kavanagh, he still had long hair. It was two years ago, and he had ridden his bike to her house to tell her that he'd just enlisted.

"It wasn't fair," she said Wednesday of his death.

Read the rest at the Baltimore Sun

Services for Eric Kavanagh

Two pictures came up on the screen inside Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park yesterday morning. One showed a picture of Pvt. Eric Matthew Kavanagh in uniform, a member of the 26th Infantry of the First Division Blue Spaders. The other showed him in similar garb, but as an elementary school-aged child.

Then Pvt. Kavanagh's photo came up on the screen again, but this time with long hair and a wide smile as he sat on a motorcycle. That was followed by one of him with a shaved head playing a sunburst Stratocaster-style guitar.

A number of other photographs showed him posing with family members, or candid shots of him making silly faces or showed him proudly smiling as he stood in uniform.

Family and friends said goodbye to the 20-year-old Severna Park man, a week after he was killed by an improvised explosive device in Baghdad.

The photo compilation, set to Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man" was put together by Pvt. Kavanagh's younger brother Patrick.

After a final few seconds of a video of Pvt. Kavanagh playing guitar, a dedication came across the screen.

"Eric you are a true hero and will not be forgotten," it said.

More than 250 people attended the funeral service. But Pvt. Kavanagh's immediate family clung to each other as they followed the casket, draped with an American flag, inside the crowded church.

"Behind that gentle happy, huggy guitar player there was grit and determination," the Rev. W. Terry Schoener said during the service.

Pvt. Kavanagh, who grew up attending Folger McKinsey Elementary and Severna Park Middle School, left Chesapeake High School and knew he wanted to go into the armed forces.

"Here's where the hand of God and the inner strength of Eric united," the Rev. Schoener said. "He was sensing a calling."

Pvt. Kavanagh's father, Kevin, wrote a letter about his son that Mr. Kavanagh's brother-in-law, Forrest Mays, read in church.

"My son Eric is a gentle soul, always with a smile on his face - a smile that beamed with love, enthusiasm and compassion," Mr. Mays read.

Mr. Kavanagh wrote that his son wasn't satisfied with the 9 to 5 world and that he wanted to do something important and make a difference.

Mr. Mays said Mr. Kavanagh wrote the letter the night before.

"His sacrifice brought together a family in need of healing. Yes, my son is a hero, but to each of us he's so much more," Mr. Mays said.

He talked about Eric's love in talking with his brother and younger sister, Alanna.

Mr. Kavanagh is also survived by his mother, Rhonda Kavanagh of Glen Burnie, and his grandparents, Shirley Kerns of Glen Burnie and Keith Morris of Stockbridge, Ga.

Mr. Mays said the family wanted those who knew Pvt. Kavanagh to share their stories with them as the days pass.

The Rev. Schoener reminded Pvt. Kavanagh's siblings to remember their brother at holidays and share stories about him.

"Eric is a gentle soul," Mr. Mays finished reading from the letter. "Eric is a gentle soul."

Mr. Mays then presented the family with a plaque that read "There is nothing so strong as gentleness and nothing so gentle as real strength."

Family and friends later spilled into the hallway from a reception room at Arlington National Cemetery as Pvt. Kavanagh was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his sacrifice in the war on terror in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

As the procession left for the grave site, a couple of cars had yellow ribbons attached as they went through the winding hills of the cemetery.

There was also a private celebration of Pvt. Kavanagh's life at the Knights of Columbus Columbian Center in Severna Park last night.

"He was serving for the sake of his family and for the sake of all of us - the nation," the Rev. Schoener said during the memorial service.

Read the rest at the Annapolis Capital

Related Link:
Severna Park Soldier, 20, Killed in Explosion (Eric Kavanagh)