Richard W. Kadel
KADEL
Richard “Dick” Kadel — or “Mr. Kadel” to his many former students — passed away on Jan. 30, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Florida, as his wife, Karen Kadel, and family sang hymns at his bedside. Dick was the music director at Davis & Elkins College from 1974 to 1985. He loved the community and the mountains and returned to Elkins often.
In addition to conducting the D&E chorus and the “And All That Jazz” choir, he produced musical theater, tuned pianos throughout the area, and staged major choral works for the whole community, like Handel’s Messiah and Verdi’s Requiem. Dick was known to dance with joy and smile from the podium to encourage performers. Some of his students became professional musicians, and many continued to sing in choirs all their lives, later praising Mr. Kadel as the best director they ever had.
The Kadels attended First United Methodist Church of Elkins, and Dick and Karen volunteered as youth mentors when their kids were teenagers. Two of their children attended D&E.
Dick is survived by his wife; two sisters in Lake City, Florida; his children, Rich (Lisa) of San Diego; Elizabeth (Dekin) Dorcas of Spruce Pine, North Carolina; Stephanie (Jeff) Taras, of Ann Arbor, Michigan; Robert (Stephanie) of Atlanta, Georgia; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandkids.
An expanded obituary is available at AndersonMcQueen.com.