Lon's Life Story
Alonzo Gentry Kimmel – Lon – lived a rich, exciting, and unique life of adventure and discovery. His family has tried to sum up the story of who Lon was, what he did, and the 'state of being' in which he existed as best we could, but we know there's so much more left untold.
Read on below, and please share your own Lon Stories so we can add them to the remembrance of his memory in autumn 2025.
Alonzo Gentry Kimmel
October 2, 1947 – April 17, 2025
How can I possibly sleep
This moonlit evening?
Come, my friends,
Let’s sing and dance
All night long.
– Taigu Ryokan, Zen Poet
Alonzo Gentry Kimmel – “Lon” – left this life on Thursday April 17, 2025, departing peacefully in his sleep. He will be missed by all who knew him, and should be missed by those who only knew of him. Lon is survived by his wife, Wendy Evelyn Mansell Kimmel, his two sons John “Sean” Mansell Kimmel and Joseph “Jonah” Elwood Kimmel with daughter-in-law Mallory, and his older brother Joel B. Kimmel. He was predeceased by his oldest brother Edward L. Kimmel.
His whole life, Lon loved riding motorcycles, operating chainsaws, grilling meats, and smoking herb. To his family’s knowledge he never did all four at the same time, but we would not have put it past him to try (and to succeed with aplomb!). Lon was honest, steadfast, supportive, and loving, and while his rebellious streak ran deep and wide from a very young age, at five-foot-two-and a half-inches tall he was probably the shortest guy around that family and friends would each “look up to” for guidance.
Born 1947 in Kansas City, Missouri – known as the “Show Me State" – Lon spent his 77+ years taking every chance to “show us” what a great man he was. Although born in the near South and never completely free of a charming twang, Lon and his brothers Joel and Ed grew up in Gates Mills, Ohio, where they would count the days until summertime each year when they would pack life north across the border to the cottages on Muskoka’s Pen Lake.
It was there at “The Lake” that Lon fully discovered his roles both as an explorer of the northern wilds, and also as a crash test dummy for the “inspired” inventions of his two older brothers. If it could float, fly, or fire on all cylinders, Lon knew all its secrets, and Lon carried this early love of engineering, mechanics, and technology – nicknamed “The Monkeywrench” for the ability to tackle any problem that needed fixing – throughout his life’s many chapters. As a result of many un-scientific experiments with his brothers at The Lake, young Lon could survive anything while making repairs underway - he could fix flooded hydroplanes mid-race, or “water ski” on bedroom slippers nailed to floorboard planks, or even “toboggan” down near-vertical surfaces to stick a landing that would have earned him a shot at a Red Bull sponsorship before the concept of “extreme sports” was even defined. Did he ever tell you the story about the old railway cart that one time…?
Lon was an amateur – and a true lover – of sport: when he wasn’t wrestling in high school or running long-distance in Cross Country, Lon learned to be the sports trainer for the baseball, football, and cross country teams at Mayfield High School. He was taught by the school’s sports medicine coach on the easy mechanics of how to tape ankles and ice shoulders, and the more nuanced tactics of helping keep a cool head when teams were falling apart on the field. Lon continued to stay active into his later years, participating in marathons and fun runs, windsurfing, swimming, and canoeing into his 70’s.
His early summers at The Lake also bestowed Lon with a lasting love of animals; it was there where he would meet and look after his own pet racoons, Leroy and Cornelius, as a young teenager. Lon would find a kindred spirit in his Labrador Retriever companions Lucy, Aly, and Dusty, whose energetic zeal, relentless optimism, and practiced ease each matched his own temperament, and who would each prove themselves as ideal compatriots in Lon’s later adventures in his life ahead.
At 19 years old, Lon took all the energy, action, and can-do he learned from being the youngest of three sons and packed it into a United States Air Force uniform in 1967. He completed weapons school in Colorado before serving overseas at U-Tapao Air Force Base in Thailand from 1969-1971. Lon not only survived his service, but thrived despite the rapid tempo and harsh environment of the role, and he remained proud of his service to the Air Force and to his country until his last days. He was forever changed by his service in Asia, having been enlightened by Zen Buddhism and becoming a life-long Buddhist.
Back home after his deployment Lon’s life changed but did not slow, where he spent the following years visiting family and friends across the USA and Canada – interspersed with many frequent trips to The Lake – and taking time after university to race motocross in Nevada.
It was at The Lake in Muskoka where Lon would meet his wife, Wendy, and his life would begin its next and most rewarding chapter. Having found a lifelong companion and travel partner in Wendy, they saddled up his trusty Big Yellow Chevy Pickup and set out to discover the continent. With dirt bikes strapped to the front and camping gear and a black Labrador pup safely tucked under the camper shell in the back, Lon and Wendy criss-crossed the continent and camped under the stars, marking their progress by the great National Parks they explored together. From Big Bend in the south to Banff in the north, from Shenandoah in the East to Haleakala in the West, Wendy, Lon, and canine companions did them all.
Lon and Wendy settled back in Gates Mills for a spell where their twin sons were born before moving the family north to Toronto, Canada, where the four would make their new home together. While Toronto was their new weekday home, the family spent every weekend north of the city, either at the cottages in Muskoka throughout the summer, or in Collingwood during the winters at the Chalet where they skied at Craigleith Ski Club. Felling trees, fixing up outboard motors, keeping the sauna fires stoked and the chainsaws sharpened, and teaching thousands of lessons to his two sons, the “Lon of all trades” fell back into an easy rhythm.
Lon’s twin sons Sean and Jonah were blessed to have a father who was engaged in everything they did, making sure that his boys never left home for school without a hot breakfast in their bellies, and a lunch big enough for two in each of their packs. Joining the 433 Boy Scouts of Canada Troop as “Scoutmaster Lon” – or by his given scouting name, “Rainbow” – he shared his deep knowledge of the outdoors, camping, and survival skills with all the scouts of the 433 – a lifelong highlight his participation in Scouting was the 1997 Canadian Jamboree in Thunder Bay, Ontario where Lon’s charm, wit, and wisdom made him renowned the country over with troops from across Canada.
Lon spent the latter part of his career working with Air Canada in Airside Operations where he always loved the chance to revel in the energetic bustle of the tarmac, Jet A-1 again coursing through his veins. Air Canada gave Lon, Wendy, and sons the opportunity to travel far and wide, from discovering family history at Vimy Ridge to exploring the Bungle Bungles in Western Australia with Aussie friends, and everywhere else around the world in between. Lon and family continued to discover the world together, travelling to far-off places, and always finding a way off the beaten path to see the world through an underrepresented perspective.
Lon continued to laugh, love, and learn well into his retirement from Air Canada, where his focus sharpened on his family, his friends, and the outdoor adventures they would all take together. He knew Jonah's then-girlfriend/now-wife Mallory was “a keeper” in the aftermath of the 2017 Tornado, with daughter-in-law Mallory’s addition was all but preordained the moment she took to the chainsaw with limitless zeal to dig out from the devastation just like young Lon himself would have 60 years earlier!
In retirement, Lon found a new love of blacksmithing, where he was largely self-taught, and shared his passion for the craft to learners and visitors as a “smithy” at Muskoka Heritage place in Huntsville, Ontario. Crafting furniture, home goods, and wrought-iron decorations at the forge, Lon transformed decades of experience making the machines of others run smoothly into a canvas for his own interpretation.
Lon was a born storyteller, and Lon’s early immersion into novels and stories as a voracious reader deepened with age, where Lon would share his love of sci-fi – and his aptitude for telling engaging stories – with both his sons. Whether reading a good book, lending an endlessly-patient ear, or telling one of the countless unbelievable-but-true stories of his long life around the table, Lon’s reason for living was sharing the fulsomeness of life, and the unexpected delights of when things go sideways, with family and friends. He was easy to talk with and a great listener, always making you feel like you were the most important person in the room, and always giving you the best advice. At all times, Lon was a quiet shepherd and protector to all whose presence would give comfort that “everything was going to be okay”.
If you know Lon, please share your stories of him with his family and friends, and with those you meet along your own life, and spare no details of the wacky, courageous, slightly-stupid, and always-awesome ways he faced life straight ahead – we all need more of Lon’s folksy style that belied the sage wisdom he shared with us often.
Lon is remembered by his older brother Joel Kimmel, who recognizes one of Lon’s highest states of being as someone on whom others could always count on for support. He was there to support his mother, Evie, and he was always there for his sons, his two brothers Joel and Ed, and wife Wendy throughout their shared lives, taking care of each other.
While Lon’s body has left, his spirit remains with us all, and so do his lessons: When you find yourself faced with a challenge, just “keep on truckin’”; If you’re in a tough spot, simply “experience the pain – and then let it go”; And when you’re looking towards the next step ahead always be sure to “let the good times roll”.
As a Zen Buddhist, Lon knew that rebirth is a part of the eternal cycle towards nirvana. Following his passing on April 17, we can all take comfort that he is already around us once again, reborn anew. Greet Lon when you next see the sunrise, knowing that his presence will be eternal, and his guidance and wisdom shall remain as evergreen as the stoic pines of Muskoka.
Right on.