Friends and family of Kyle Kefalas say he was a kind, caring and well-loved person who was a Jeopardy whiz and avid sports fan with a vast collection of jerseys and baseball hats.
Kyle passed away on October 11 at the age of 35. A celebration of life will take place at Yellowknife’s Explorer Hotel from 2pm on Saturday, November 9 with a reception until 5pm.
Alex Schmalz first met Kyle, her future husband, in 2009 at the lineup for the Monkey Tree bar. They began dating in 2012.
After delaying their wedding due to the Covid-19 pandemic, they got married on November 16, 2021, the third anniversary of their engagement.
Schmalz described Kyle as “a very kind, very generous person.”
“He had this ability to have a conversation with anybody and he was always genuinely interested in what you were saying,” she said, adding he was a very social person with many different friend groups.
“He was just able to connect with everybody, I don’t know a single person that didn’t like him.”
Schmalz said Kyle had an amazing memory for sports facts, was an all-round athlete, and loved animals and taking their dogs for walks. She said he also had a “nerdy side” and liked to play Dungeons and Dragons.
Kyle was born in Montreal and moved with his parents to Yellowknife when he was six years old.
He attended JH Sissons School then briefly left the North for Ottawa before returning to Yellowknife two years later, where he graduated from Sir John Franklin High School.
He again returned to the city after completing his economics degree at the University of Calgary in 2011.
Gabriel Farrell met Kyle at a summer camp when he was 12 years old and visiting family in Yellowknife from Scotland.
“We hit it off and we had the sport in common, which was soccer,” he said. “It was impressive how much he knew about the sport.”
Farrell said they remained friends and he would see Kyle any time he visited Yellowknife in the summer as a child.
“He was just welcoming you into a group, no matter who you were, no matter how long he had known you for,” he said.
“He talked to you as if he was already your best friend.”
When Farrell permanently moved to Yellowknife in 2014, he said he reconnected with Kyle as an adult after running into him at a party and “it was like yesterday we were hanging out.”
“He was very caring about people,” Farrell said. “He was loyal and he was extremely kind. He was always in a good mood and he was always happy to see you.”
Farrell and Kyle also shared a passion for rugby and played on The Exiles rugby club together. When Kyle first joined the sport, Farrell said he was determined and eventually became one of the team’s more experienced players – and their peacemaker.
“When we had new people come out, he knew what it was like to be in their shoes. So he would say, ‘Hey, it’s all good. Don’t worry, you make mistakes, you’ll figure it out. Just have fun,'” Farrell said.
Craig Taggart was friends with Kyle for 20 years. They had a tradition of travelling to Europe to attend the World Junior Hockey Championships together.
“We had a blast,” Taggart said.
Like other people who knew him, Taggart described Kyle as “the kindest person,” saying he would make friends wherever they went.
During a trip to the Czech Republic, Taggart recalled that Kyle found a wallet left behind at a bar. He went from establishment to establishment searching for the owner to return it.
“It was our last night or second-last night … and Kyle’s off returning some stranger’s wallet because he recognized who it belonged to,” Taggart said, adding the owner hadn’t realized they lost their ID, which they needed as they were leaving the next morning.
“Especially I feel like in this day and age, you don’t get that any more.”
Other fond memories Taggart has with Kyle include times they would go to the Woodyard for pizza night or try to eat all the burgers featured during Burger Week as fast as possible.
“He was absolutely, unquestionably my best friend, but I think a lot of people could say that about him and it be true,” said Taggart.
“He could care so much for so many people and he’s able to somehow maintain legitimate friendships and relationships with so many people.”
Michael Ayiku described his longtime friend as “the absolute epitome of the man.”
Ayiku said Kyle was one of the first people to welcome him when he joined Sandra Bowden’s first-grade class at JH Sissons halfway through the year in 1996.
“Already not knowing very many people or very much English, my inaugural memory was Kyle convincing me that the leech was the deadliest sea creature and, when said out of context, was a curse word I shouldn’t say around adults,” Ayiku recalled. “Kyle could make you believe anything.”
Ayiku said he began growing his signature afro thanks to the encouragement of Kyle after he accidentally gave him a goose-egg while “thinking he was Tiger Woods” at the mini golf course.
“Kyle was caring and sympathetic, so he thought it would be a great idea for me to grow more hair to make sure I never got another goose-egg from any more accidents from his Tiger Woods endeavours,” Ayiku said.
“From that day forward, six-year-old Mikey started growing his fro. It became a part of my identity. Kyle had the helping hand in making me who I am today.”
Ayiku said Kyle was the ultimate people person and a local celebrity who was his best friend and role model.
“Anyone who was lucky enough to have had an encounter with Kyle had truly been blessed, and my deepest and sincerest condolences to those who didn’t have the pleasure of meeting him,” Ayiku said.
Kyle’s family encourage anyone who is struggling with mental health to seek support.
In lieu of flowers, family and friends wishing to make donations are asked to donate to the NWT SPCA or any mental health resources in Kyle’s honour.
People are also invited to plant a memorial tree in Kyle’s name.
