Larry Dean Kimmel

Larry Dean Kimmel passed away at home in Arroyo Seco, New Mexico on February 21, 2022.  He was surrounded by his family and friends who had been with him for 3 weeks.  He was preceded in death by his parents, Vera Mae and Joseph Ray Kimmel, and his only sister, Kathleen Kimmel Drake.  He was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on February 1, 1936, attended Lincoln High School and the University of Nebraska.  He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Jessica Carter Kimmel, and four children:  Joseph Bret Kimmel (Christina), March Stephen Kimmel (Karla), Curtis (Trey) Conway Gunn III, and Victoria Lee Gunn. He also left 7 grandchildren: Cameron and Danielle Kimmel (Bret), Grayson, Haydon, Sage, and Sloane Kimmel (March), and Harper Gunn (Trey).

Larry joined the U.S. Marines in 1956, attended the Naval Aviator School in Pensacola, and became a Marine Pilot in 1958. After completing his time in the Marines, he attended the University of Nebraska for a Master’s degree in Philosophy, followed by further study at the University of Texas, graduating with a PhD. in Philosophy in 1968.  He was a student of both John Silber and Oets Bouwsma, well known scholars of Philosophy.   Larry was the consummate teacher, having taught undergraduate Philosophy for 50 years, most of those at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.  With approximately 60 students per semester, he influenced the lives of over 6,000 students, many of whom still corresponded with him.  He was the winner of the Z. T. Scott Presidential Teaching Award from Trinity and was a select Piper Professor in the state of Texas, a prestigious award for teaching given only to 10 scholars a year. He traveled the world, spent one year at Princeton, and one year at Christ Church College in Oxford. His publishing record includes over 125 articles and presentations in Philosophy and Humanities. 

His second love, after teaching, was the New Mexico mountains of the Taos Ski Valley which he began visiting every summer after 1979.  He and his wife purchased a condominium in the TSV and thereafter spent every summer and Christmas vacation in his beloved mountains.  Their children grew up skiing, walking, climbing, and discovering the beauties of the forest and its surroundings.  Larry and Jessica eventually retired near those mountains, in Arroyo Seco, in 2012 and have made the area their home since.          

Services will be held at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in late March, led by Larry’s dear friend and spiritual advisor, Deacon Larry Torres. Music will be provided by close friends, John and Billy Archuleta, and old friends, Joe Lazor and Victoria Aarons will speak of Larry’s scholarly life. 

The family wishes to thank all those who made the last days of Larry’s life better:  Elva Pacheco, Billy and Terre Archuleta, Irene and Fermin Torres, Larry Torres, Tom and Kaye Carter, Charles Salman, Rosina and Melecio Apodaca, and especially his children who took care of him with such devotion.  His long-time friends from San Antonio, Joe Lazor and Denise Doyle, Kathi Light, and Victoria Aarons were helpful with messages, jokes, gossip, and emails from Texas.  We are thankful to Erminio Martinez for the of ringing the bells at Holy Trinity as a sign of the passage of Larry’s soul from one world to the next—a tradition in the community for hundreds of years.  In lieu of flowers, the family asks for contributions to the Taos Community Foundation in Larry’s name. 

Scholar, teacher, Marine, friend, husband, and father, he has touched the lives of so many and will be missed by all.

Service will be held March 26, 2022 at 10:00 am Holy Trinity in Arroyo Seco.

Arrangements by Rivera Family Funeral Home, Taos.  To share a memory, please visit our website at www.riverafuneralhome.com