Kenneth Marshall Dearing

March 1, 1944 – February 27, 2026

Kenneth Marshall Dearing, known to family and friends simply as Kenny, passed away peacefully on February 27, 2026, two days before his eighty-second birthday. He was handsome, gifted, charming, and incapable of loving with less than his mighty heart could muster. Kenny’s passing leaves a profound absence for those who loved him, perhaps especially for his children, for whom his absence marks the quiet closing of a doorway into a world he remembered with extraordinary clarity.

Born on March 1, 1944, in Lynchburg, Virginia, to Walter and Evelyn Dearing, Kenny’s early childhood unfolded in the neighborhoods of postwar Lynchburg, a place he carried with him all his life, the place his children came to love and remember through the spell he cast with tales of his boyhood, stories to which he returned again and again: Cabell Street, Rivermont Avenue, and the long slope down toward Main Street, where, for a boy with a quarter in his pocket, Lynchburg’s movie palaces—the Paramount, the Academy of Music, and others that once lined the street—were cool sanctuaries where a child could spend an entire Saturday drifting from one theater to another, watching newsreels, cartoons, and double features until evening.

Also among the shrines of his memory were the “T-Room” (Texas Tavern), whose “Hots” he considered rivaled only by the “World Famous” dogs at Moore’s Country Store, which he called “ambrosia,” assessments which his children accounted as nothing less than factual after their turns for initiation commenced. Like prophecy fulfilled, was their own firsthand knowledge of the magic of handfeeding peanuts to the friendly squirrels at Riverside Park, or the crisp, hickory-flavored air through an open car window during lazy drives along the Blue Ridge Parkway, or deep satisfaction of Lance Toast-Chee crackers washed down with a Dr. Pepper.

In later childhood, he sojourned to Miami, Florida, where he attended Miami Edison High School and lettered in football, baseball, and track for the Red Raiders before graduating in 1963, after which he became a journeyman roofer and his genius for craftsmanship blossomed into a career. Kenny delivered all of his handiwork with the talent, training, innate skill, and commitment to the tiniest details of those master masons and carpenters building the grand cathedrals of the Middle Ages. In his leisure, Kenny could build a flawless P-51 Mustang fighter with razorblades, a block of balsawood, paint, and scant plans. But his consummate gesture combining his talents and his love came at Christmastime.

The canvas for his masterpiece, the children could help select, but once anchored in its accustomed corner of the living room, the tree became his gift to us…and himself. The lights strung first, just so; the glass ornaments varied in their placement and so balanced in array. But the finale was the angel hair: oblivious to the tiny lacerations (and the breathing hazard) , he would effortlessly tease the fiberglass from its pouch and fluff it into thin veils until the tree stood encased, hallucinatory.

If only we had more time, the writer could tell you how Kenny loved animals (especially the strays) welcoming many into the family, regarding them as family, and teaching us kindness and love.

Or how on summer weekends he gathered us in the back of the truck for a trip to the Golden Glades Drive‑In, lying on blankets in the bed of a pickup truck beneath the Florida night while the double-feature flickered overhead—a small open‑air living room framed by a proscenium of stars.

Or how Kenny also loved drag racing (and took enormous pride in his ability to drive…anything) or how his joy could ebb or flow the fortunes of the Miami Dolphins and Miami Hurricanes, teaching his children that it was perfectly acceptable to let one’s heart soar or break with the outcome of the contest.

Preceded in death by his sister, Bonnie, and his brother, David. He is survived by his wife of twenty‑four years, Clara Jean Dearing; his children, Jeffrey Dearing (Yvette), Michelle Dearing Guthrie (Donnie), Wendy Dearing Davidson (Shane), Stephanie Regan, and Amie Southers (Marshall); and his grandchildren, Bridgett (Jacob), Dakota, and Christian.