Kenneth Pavlicek, 55, who taught biology at Lyons Township High School in La Grange for three decades and served for 12 years as camp director of the Boy Scouts West Suburban Council’s Camp Mach-Kin-O-Siew in Elcho, Wis., died Monday, Aug. 27, in Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he had been undergoing treatment for cancer. Short, yellow-haired, bearded and quiet, Mr. Pavlicek had a Scoutmaster’s and science teacher’s sense of when to be friendly or stern. Since his youth, Mr. Pavlicek had been an active member of the Boy Scouts of America West Suburban–now Des Plaines Valley–Council. He had worked at Mach-Kin-O-Siew since his teens. As an adult, he served as camp director at Mach-Kin-O-Siew from 1984 until 1996. He received the District Award of Merit and married the former Jamie Jo Pakosta in the chapel at the camp in 1971. Mr. Pavlicek graduated from Lyons Township High School in 1964 and from Lyons Township Junior College in 1966. He earned his teaching degree from Northern Illinois University in 1967 and began teaching at Lyons Township. He obtained a master’s degree in outdoor education from NIU in the early 1970s. At Lyons Township, he maintained the school’s biology courtyards as outdoor classrooms, and was an innovator in incorporating technology into the science curriculum. An ace mechanic, he built computers and restored antique cars at his La Grange Highlands home, including the 1942 Dodge truck long used at Mach-Kin-O-Siew to ferry supplies to campers. “He was a man of many talents, and spread them around,” his wife said. “He was just a very giving person. He was always there for whoever needed him–in any respect.” Mr. Pavlicek is also survived by two daughters, Wyndie and Bryttnie; his mother, Mary; two sisters, Sandy Ross and Jane Winninger; and a brother, David. Visitation will be held from 8 to 8:45 a.m. Thursday in the Hitzeman Funeral Home, 9445 W. 31st St., Brookfield. An Order of the Arrow ceremony will begin in the funeral home at 8:45 a.m., followed by a mass at 9:45 a.m. in St. John of the Cross Catholic Church, 5005 Wolf Rd., Western Springs.
