James M. Kephart

James M. Kephart, TSgt. USAF Ret., 59, of Braintree, MA died peacefully in his sleep on the morning of Sunday, March 14th, 2021. He was born on February 4th, 1962 on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, AZ to his late parents, Jimmy F. Kephart and Phyllis A. Kephart. He is survived by his high-school sweetheart and wife of 25 years, Lori; three children: Magellan, Alexander, and Kyra; his siblings: Susannah Kephart (and partner Charles Priest), Catherine Moore, Ann Wheale, Matthew Kephart, and Samantha Kephart; his father’s wife Beatrice Kephart and mother’s husband Henry Woll; as well as extended family and many lifelong friends.

James cherished his life and his memories and was fiercely devoted to those he loved. Throughout his life, he was a man of clear morals and firm convictions. Chief among them, a sense of loyalty and camaraderie first learned in his youth as a Boy Scout and reinforced during his 20 years of service to his country as a member of the United States Air Force. Even after his honorable discharge from the Air Force and transition to a civilian career in computer network security, James kept in close contact with the friends he made in those formative times of his life. Of all the accolades he received in his military career, he was proudest of earning the Meritorious Service Medal in November of 1996.

The irony that all his dear family members, old friends, and long-term colleagues must feel now in seeking to remember James’s life is that they all wish they could rely on his precise memory to help them do so. Whether it was the exact number of times he saw The Empire Strikes Back in theaters; a mental encyclopedia of dates, names, and faces; or his wife’s high school phone number, once James committed something to memory, he never lost hold of it. He would often lead into the punchline of an anecdote (of which he had many favorites, the delivery of which he knew by heart) by pausing, catching your eye, and emphasizing “and I’ll never forget this part.” He never did. Of course, this picture-perfect memory meant that he never wrote down the recipes to his family’s favorite dishes: his bacon quiche, broccoli-cheddar soup, and blue-cheese hamburgers.

James also turned his attentive memory to matters of intellectual interest – he was a lifelong student of history and politics, filling the bookshelves around his desk at home with stories of our nation’s founding and theories of our nation’s future. In the time not spent engaging in spirited debate about the real world, he spent traveling in imagined ones, complementing his collection of historical and political books with fantasy and science fiction. He was a voracious reader and an avid lover of film, television, and music (especially classical music and the works of Neil Diamond).

James believed in the longevity and importance of things, carrying the same comb in his back pocket, and wearing the same pair of cowboy boots for decades. Among his favorite objects was an old film camera that belonged to his grandfather, Norman. James had a particular passion for the photography of Ansel Adams, which no doubt reminded him of his days as a Boy Scout and spoke to the deep pride he felt in his nation and in the beauty of nature and art.

In its totality, his life takes on the shape of one of his and Ansel Adams’s favorite visual subjects, Yosemite’s Half-Dome: sturdy and striking; unfinished, but, in its way, complete.

A private viewing and farewell was held for James’s immediate family on March 16th, 2021. In James’s memory, you may express your sympathy in the form of a donation to our National Park Service, as well as by calling an old friend, opening a closed door, and offering an ear and your heart to someone for whom it would be a sense of strength.