It is with great sorrow we announce the loss of our precious son Kevin Philip Slocum, age 37.
Kevin is survived by his parents Terry and Arlene Slocum of Fairbanks, Alaska, brother Danny Slocum (wife Leigha) of Overland Park, Kansas, and sister Diane Slocum (husband Jerry Lyon) of Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
A Celebration of Life will be held at the Rumsey Yost funeral home in Lawrence Kansas on Saturday April 29, 2023 from 11:00am-12:30pm. Afterwards we will have a picnic lunch at a local park. Please come to share your memories of Kevin and join us for lunch.
Kevin had been missing since June 30, 2022. Kevin battled mental illness for much of his adult life. His condition worsened in the spring of 2022. His family and coworkers encouraged him to seek help and he did try, but he could not overcome the nightmare of paranoid schizophrenia.
He remained convinced that assassins were planning to kill him. In his last conversations he said he had to hide from them and could not tell us where in order to protect his family. In November 2022 the police found his remains in a remote area in Kansas. He had hung himself.
In his younger years Kevin excelled in sports, playing baseball, tennis, and basketball and running track. He graduated with many honors from Wentworth Military Academy in Missouri. While at Wentworth he was captain of the basketball team, a medalist in the 400 meter run at the state track competition, and inducted into the National Honor Society. He was quiet and polite and would hang out with friends, playing sports and video games. As an adult he developed social anxiety disorder, but through the JobLink program was able to find a good job delivering flowers for Englewood Florists. He was well liked at work and by the customers.
He is missed by them, and by the staff at First State Bank and at the funeral homes where he delivered flowers every day. As recently as 2019 Kevin was still a competitive runner. He joined his brother Danny at some Kansas City area races.
Kevin’s anxiety disorder made it awkward for him to relate to people in person. He spent a lot of time on line gaming and in chat rooms. During the pandemic he hosted a podcast on youtube. It was a forum for single guys to talk about relationships with women.
Like many in our country, Kevin believed conspiracy theories and refused medication because he thought it was a government plot. The seriousness of Kevin’s illness was not recognized by mental health professionals until it was too late. Privacy laws and HIPAA impeded us from learning about his treatment or trying to find him when he went missing.
We are sharing our son’s sad story because we know he was part of the larger issue of mental health treatment gripping our country. If you want to help, put down your phone and tell someone that you care about them. If you teach, let your students know how happy you are to see them. When you go out, thank the server or clerk and look at them when you say it. By connecting to someone in person each day, we make the world a better place.
If you want to make a donation in Kevin’s memory, we recommend the Lawrence Kansas Boys and Girls Club (he was a member) or Lawrence Humane Society, P.O. Box 1260 Lawrence, Kansas 66044.
Kevin, you are loved and missed every day. Love, Mom and Dad
