LaVerne Turner Kappel

Mrs. Kappel taught at Eleanor McMain High School for nearly 30 years. She joined the faculty in the early 70s and taught English until she retired in 2001. During that time thousands of students passed through her classroom doors. Her students at McMain often described her as a “no-nonsense” teacher who also showed immense empathy and had “a big heart.”

LaVerne Adele Turner was born on February 15, 1945, in Tampa, Florida, and adopted by Harlowe and Claudia Turner. Her father worked as a typesetter for the local newspaper. She attended Hillsborough High School where she was very active in various social clubs and activities like cheerleading. Her mother was a homemaker until Harlowe died unexpectedly when LaVerne was 17 years old. She never forgot the classmates that attended her father’s funeral.

Following her husband’s death, Claudia returned to nursing to support LaVerne and her brother, Robert Durham Turner. Claudia’s grit and resilience during those years made an indelible impact on LaVerne’s personality. For the remainder of her life, she had an, at times, stubborn insistence in her own self-sufficiency. Yet, she never hesitated to help others in need.

In 1963, LaVerne left Tampa to attend Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. She was a first-generation college student and without the resources of many of her peers. She often recounted how she spent time out of class picking up fallen pecans on campus to eat for dinner. During undergrad, she spent the summer of 1965 living in Harlem working for the NYC World’s Fair. In 1967, she graduated with her bachelor’s degree.

She never would have made it to McMain had she not been forced out of her original teaching assignment in Livingston, Alabama. Having been inspired by the Civil Rights Movement during college, LaVerne joined The National Teacher Corps in the late 60s and was working under the program at Livingston University to teach at an all-Black elementary school during integration. Shortly after she began her assignment, she brought two of her students out for ice cream at a local shop. The owner of the shop not only refused to serve them, but hurled racial epithets at the two young girls. In response, LaVerne proceeded to “educate” the owner on what she thought of his behavior. This verbal undressing didn’t go unnoticed by the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, as the owner of the ice cream shop happened to be a member. The chapter leadership promptly informed the local Teacher Corps supervisor that LaVerne’s safety could no longer be guaranteed. The supervisor asked LaVerne to resign for her own safety, but she refused, prompting her supervisor to terminate her from the Corps.

After spending the summer of 1969 in San Francisco, LaVerne then moved to New Orleans in 1970 and earned her master's degree in education from Tulane University in 1974. After several years at Alfred Lawless High School in the Lower Ninth Ward, she found her home at McMain. She was, as one former student described her, a “powerful woman in a small body.” Upon learning of her death, another former student remarked that “LaVerne showed love to everyone, no exceptions. She was fierce in her beliefs and worked constantly for betterment, always in a kind and gentle way.”

In 1977, she married New Orleans native William Kappel in the living room of his family’s home in Lake Vista. For their honeymoon, they rode off on his motorcycle for a weekend at the Broadwater Beach Hotel in Biloxi. In 1979, LaVerne gave birth to her first son, Benjamin. Her second son, Timothy, followed in 1981.

Her time at McMain was incredibly transformative. It was her life’s work until, in 2000, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. LaVerne decided to retire to focus full time on beating the disease into remission. She was successful. It was during this time that she continued her graduate studies and received a Degree of Certificate in Gerontology in 2001 from the University of New Orleans and began volunteering at the People Program. In 2002, she took a position as the Director of the Tutoring Center at Tulane University, where she spent her time assisting many first-generation college students and collegiate athletes in their studies. One Tulane grad described her as “demanding, but never judgmental.”

After Hurricane Katrina forced her and her husband to relocate, LaVerne returned to New Orleans and became the Director of the People Program. Working out of a makeshift location at First Grace United Methodist Church, she helped oversee the establishment and relocation to a more permanent modern facility at its present-day location near UNO. After retiring as Director, she continued to teach her popular yoga classes there for another 15 years.

LaVerne was an early adopter of Hatha Yoga. Inspired by her mentor Evelyn Smith, she maintained a humble, steady practice for five decades. She also became very interested in Tibetan Buddhism and the teachings of the Dalai Lama. Her classes inspired many, including Mark Berger, the current organizer of the New Orleans Yoga Festival. “I did my first practice class with her and her seniors” at the People Program, said Berger upon learning of LaVerne’s passing. “She was the first person I ever knew in the yoga world, which is now my entire life.”

In 2012, after ten years of remission, LaVerne’s breast cancer made an unlikely return. At that point, her biological genealogy became a strong focus. She successfully unsealed her adoption records in Tampa and, through her own investigative work thereafter, established the identity of her biological mother and father. Upon learning of her lineage, LaVerne began to build a relationship with her half-sisters and numerous biological cousins, many of whom welcomed her with open arms. LaVerne enjoyed an unmistakable peace from simply knowing her biological origins.

She was predeceased by both of her parents and is survived by her beloved brother, Robert, with whom she spoke every Sunday, her devoted husband of 48 years, William, her two sons, Benjamin and Timothy, daughters-in-law Haley Jupiter and Cecelia Trenticosta, grandchildren, Tallulah, Andre Claiborne, Theodore, Charlie, Brennan Kappel (and his younger sibling on the way), as well as many more extended family who loved her. Perhaps more than anything, she adored her grandchildren and the time she was able to spend with them.

In the end, LaVerne’s life was Forrest-Gumpian in its diversity of experience. But throughout each of the otherwise distinct phases of her life, teaching and compassion for others were the common thread. As one of her students said recently, LaVerne “will live on in the lives and memories of all of us with whom she taught, touched, moved, and inspired.”

A celebration of life will be held at Ralph’s on the Park on August 7, at 5:30pm.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Youth Empowerment Project (www.youthempowermentproject.org), the People Program (www.peopleprogram.org), or the Trinity Educational Enrichment Program (www.trinitynola.com/teep).