If you knew Dick, you loved him. We remember him as the terrific classmate who became an outstanding goaltender on the West Point Soccer Team. He was awarded the “A” Monogram and three stars for beating Navy, and he earned All-America honors during his final season. Dick, or ‘Red,’ as we knew him, was famous for his smile and good humor, for being fun-loving and generous, and for much more.

Richard Douglas Kavanaugh entered life on August 23, 1929 in Annapolis, MD. The son of Dennis and Pauline Kavanaugh, he grew up sailing and swimming in the Chesapeake Bay. He graduated from Annapolis High School in 1947. Although his father was a professor at the Naval Academy, Dick had no interest in a Navy career due to the long duty assignments away from home. He spent two years in the U.S. Army and became a drummer in the Army Band. He then attended Severn Prep School for a year before entering West Point with the Class of 1954.

During his Second Class year, Dick met his beloved ‘Cay’—Cathryn Clark Cox—on a blind date at the Naval Academy during his exchange week. It was love at first sight. Dick became totally focused on graduating, receiving his commission and marrying Cay. They were married five days after graduation in her home town of Bellport, NY.

He was commissioned in the Infantry and completed the Basic Infantry Officers Course and Airborne School. After two more years at Fort Benning, GA, Dick was assigned as an advisor to the Second Imperial Iranian Corps in Kermanshah, Iran. While there he and his friends amused themselves by hunting wild boar from their jeeps at night.

Returning to Fort Benning, Dick met Clive Click, an older aviator who introduced him to flying. Dick was soon hooked and switched from Infantry to Transportation. He flew helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, and was an instructor at Fort Rucker, AL. Along the way, he earned a master’s degree in industrial management at the University of Tennessee.

Dick’s other career assignments included Director of Logistics, Aviation Maintenance Depot, Mannheim, Germany (1964-66); Commanding Officer, 79th Aircraft Maintenance Company, Qui Nhon, Vietnam (1966-67); Aviation Maintenance Officer, Special Warfare Center, Fort Bragg, NC (1967-69); Director, R&D Division, U.S. Army, Long Binh, Vietnam (1971-72); and Deputy Director, U.S. Army Human Engineering Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD (1972-79).

After 32 years of military service, Dick retired in 1979 as a lieutenant colonel. Along the way, he and Cay had four children in four years in four different states. They also made a total of 28 different geographical moves. They lived each day fully: camping, swimming and sailing. Their kids learned to ski in Germany as soon as they could walk.

After three years of civilian employment with a defense company in Annapolis, Dick and Cay began their retirement in earnest. They bought their third sailboat, the 37-foot Bullship II and its dinghy Chickenship, in 1980 and lived on it while Dick worked in Annapolis. In 1982 they began cruising almost endlessly for the next 20 years, returning to their home in Maryland for family reunions. They logged a total of 40,000 miles “under the keel,” including nine round trips on the Intracoastal Waterway from the head of Chesapeake Bay to the Florida Keys, plus trips to the Bahamas, New England, Texas and up the Hudson River to the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence Seaway. They never stayed in marinas and preferred to anchor out in a quiet cove. They would set fishing lines to catch their dinner and barbecue it on the grill. Every morning they would take the dinghy ashore for a long walk to explore the local area. Dick and Cay agreed that those were the best years of their lives.

Finally, they settled down on dry land in Jacksonville, FL in 2003 and sold the Bullship. Then they set out to see the world, taking commercial cruises to the Baltic Sea, Greek Isles, South America, Panama Canal and Alaska, plus five trips to Australia and New Zealand, three trips to the United Kingdom and Ireland, and journeys to Africa, China, Europe, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada and Central America.

Sadly, Dick Kavanaugh passed away on November 10, 2014 at the age of 85 after a brief illness. He is survived by Cay, his beloved wife of 60 years, and his daughters: Polly Kavanaugh of San Francisco, CA; Dr. Lauralyn K. Burke of Tallahassee, FL; and Nancy K. Apted of Ellicott City, MD. Dick was predeceased by his son, Richard D. Kavanaugh Jr., by 18 days.

Dick loved life and his family, classmates and friends. His was a life well lived. As he sails into the sunset, we wish him fair winds and following seas. He was fond of the poem “Sea Fever” by John Masefield, which opens with the following lines:

“I must go down to the seas again, to the

lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star

 to steer her by.”

— His family