Obituary of Kendall E. Mallory

It is with great sadness we announce the passing of our husband, father, and dear friend Kendall Eugene Mallory. Kendall succumbed to his nearly 5-year battle with esophageal cancer on February 16, 2024 and leaves behind his beloved wife, family, and many friends.

Kendall was born on March 29th, 1956 in San Bruno California to his father Charlie Eugene (Gene) Mallory and mother Alva Gene Mallory. Kendall spent most of his youth growing up in Pasadena California and attended Pasadena High School where he graduated in 1973. They attended Bresee Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, and Los Angeles First Church of the Nazarene.

At Pasadena High School, Kendall participated in cross country and track. He also developed a lifelong interest in photography. After graduating, Kendall moved to Farmington, Michigan with his parents where they lived for two years. During this time he attended Oakland Community College and Detroit First Church of the Nazarene.

When Kendall was 19, he moved to San Diego where he planned to attend Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) for a year or two while focusing his life on his studies. He became deeply involved in the physics department, rekindling his childhood passion for astronomy and physics, making many lifelong friends. His original plan was to transfer to another university to complete his education, but he ended up graduating from PLNU in 1979. This is also where he met his first wife Laura Oliver with whom he had his three children: Kelsey, Liam, and Tristan.

Kendall found his first engineering job in 1979 with Rohr Industries, while continuing his engineering studies at San Diego State University. He moved to a job with Rockwell International, Anaheim in 1981, where he stayed until 1989. He graduated from California State University, Fullerton with a MS degree in engineering in 1984 and started his graduate studies in physics at the University of California, Riverside that same year. Over the length of his academic career, he developed research skills in computer modeling which he used to complete his PhD in 1990. His dissertation was about electrical conduction in disordered materials.

In 1990, Kendall started a postdoctoral position at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England where he worked on research into nanometer scale electronics. A year later, he took a position as a physics professor at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) in Greeley where he stayed for 15 years — he was adjunct faculty for an additional 5 years after returning to Colorado in 2015. In 2006, Kendall accepted a professorship at PLNU where he stayed for 9 years. At the same time, he taught physics and astronomy at San Diego City College.

Kendall’s children were always his greatest joy in life and he loved them deeply. Kelsey was born in Long Beach, California in 1989 while Liam and Tristan were born in Greeley, Colorado in 1993. Kendall shared his interests in physics with Kelsey and she completed undergraduate and graduate degrees in physics at UC Berkeley. Kendall shared his interest in computers with Liam and Tristan who completed degrees in computer science at PLNU. Some of Kendall’s favorite memories of his kids growing up include helping Liam build computers and electric guitars, attending many of Tristan’s high school track and cross country meets, and helping Kelsey attend summer dance intensives. Currently, Kelsey lives in London while Tris and Liam live in San Diego. It is hard to express the pride Kendall took in the wonderful caring people his sons and daughter have become.

In the mid-1990s, Kendall started his long-term involvement with the Colorado Dance Theatre (CDT). He was an active member of the board through 2006 and resumed this work after returning to Greeley in 2015, for the remainder of his life. He developed many set pieces and was CDT’s primary photographer for many years.

In 2013, Kendall married his second wife Shannon. They had been friends as teenagers and had a wonderful life together until Kendall’s passing. They shared many interests in camping, mountains, beaches, natural history, geology, astronomy, photography, and country living, just to mention a few. They took a wonderful vacation to Alaska in 2021 visiting glaciers, Denali National Park, and the Kenai Peninsula; they saw caribou, grizzly bears, otters, and went fishing for halibut.

In 2015, Kendall and Shannon moved back to Colorado with the goal of eventually retiring in the Rocky Mountains. They moved to Greeley where Kendall taught at Aims Community College and worked as adjunct faculty at UNC. After a few years, Kendall found himself in his fight with esophageal cancer. Greeley turned out to be a good place for him during these years. He had many wonderful family members and friends who supported him in his battle. Kendall also found excellent cancer care in Greeley at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. His treatments gave him many wonderful years that he spent reflecting on life and letting everyone know how much he loved them.

Kendall is also survived by his brothers Calvin (Bonita) and Loren (Debbie White), his nephews Erik, Ryan and Ian, and their families, and Shannon’s daughters Ashley Brattel and Avonlea Neustaedter.

He was loved by many and will be missed by all. When you look up at the night sky, Kendall will be the brightest star in the universe.

In lieu of flowers, please donate a book to your local library. A Celebration of Life will be announced as soon as arrangements are made.