Shane Michael Kenny-Egeland

Shane Michael Kenny-Egeland, 25, of LaGrange Park and Berwyn, passed away Thursday July 11, 2019 at his residence in Chicago. Our beautiful son Shane was born November 4, 1993 in Maywood, the son of Roger Egeland and Gretchen Kenny. He was an early premature baby, weighing just over 3 ½ lbs at birth. He fought hard through bradycardia and apnea, and while he was hospitalized often as an infant and small child, suffering some delayed development, he was a fighting tiger who soon was on par with or besting his peers. As a young child living in Berwyn, he got into all sorts of mischievous things which little boys are wont to get into. He and his sister would sneak out onto the roof outside their 3rd floor bedroom window, unbeknownst to their mom. One day a neighbor was yelling about kids by the window, and she discovered Shane and a neighbor boy urinating off the ledge. She blocked the window and promptly put an end to their yellow rain escapades. He would have sword fights with his older brother and sister and their neighborhood friends using sticks. He and his sister once also decided that a batch of hard-boiled eggs would be perfect for throwing at each other, since it was summer and there was no snow to substitute. Such fun was not only to be had at home. Shane spent long weeks at his Grampa’s in Burbank, along with his sister and cousins. Shane’s brother Steven and their cousin Danny would be the ‘kings of the castle’ and their several loyal followers (younger kids) would follow them around the entire day. Almost every day Shane and the gang would play ghost in the graveyard, tag, play video games, and play restaurant. He and his sister Stephanie would stay up late every night to watch anime on adult swim, and if they heard Grampa wake up, they’d turn off the TV and pretend to sleep until he went back to bed. Then they resumed their late-night cartoon and anime fest. They went often to the park, and Grampa took them to the museums and Brookfield Zoo. They went daily to the neighborhood pool, and afterwards Grampa would take them to the mall. He’d turn them loose in the eatery and Shane and his sister got the cheapest food option in order to be able to get Yu-Gi-Oh cards later. They would only have enough change for one pack each time, which they would share. As he grew older he had many more adventures still. He was in Cub Scouts and Little League in LaGrange Park. During one particular game, he hit a grand slam and was so all-around awesome, the coach had the other players sign the game ball to give to Shane. Shane and his cousin Mark also often spent time at Salt Creek, once bringing home to his aunt’s house some crawfish they’d found as young boys. They didn’t mention the crawfish, and Shane’s aunt woke up to find the new critters had eaten all her goldfish, and were creeping across the floor. In the winter, Shane’s dad often took them sledding and explained the rules about not going down the other side of the hill, which was lined with rocks and trees. Of course, being an adventurous boy, he and his cousin Mark decided one day to take the chance. It ended with Mark calling Shane’s dad to report that Shane “might have blacked out” but was OK. We had hot cocoa when they got home to reflect on the rules of safety. Shane enjoyed many diverse interests, including playing the guitar and singing, cooking, video games, and more. He was in a band in his teen years with a neighborhood friend, at that time playing heavy metal rock. He later switched to acoustic and would play and sing for anyone who requested a song from his beautiful voice. He enjoyed cooking with his sister Stephanie. As children they often made breakfast in bed for their mother. Once they tried making a hard-boiled egg in the microwave, and it exploded. In high school, Shane took several gourmet and chef’s classes also with his sister. He was his teacher’s favorite in Chef’s class. Shane and his sister made several Mother’s Day dinners including the best German potato salad ever, full dinners, and a perfect Baked Alaska! He also enjoyed playing video games, and got his mom interested in them as well, which is an accomplishment for any young man. Once, as a child, he and his sister Stephanie were playing a video game called Ocarina of Time, and they got to a scary part, the Shadow Temple. They decided it would be more fun to play that at night, with lights out, but very quickly learned that was a mistake. They quit the game in short order, and his sister slept on the floor in his room while they left the lights on. Shane also spent many hours playing video games and chatting on his Xbox with his cousin Danny. His favorite video games included The Legend of Zelda (Ocarina of Time, Windwaker, Twilight Princess), Final Fantasy VII, Runescape, Fallout, Halo 2, Minecraft, Skyrim and more. He also loved reading manga and watching anime, and he, his mother, and sister spent many wonderful evenings watching several anime including the entire Naruto series. Video games weren’t the only games he was interested in. His grandfather taught him a card game, pinochle, and Shane mastered it in short order. He was on par with his Grampa who has been playing for 75 years, and every Saturday was spent with his Uncle Andy, mom, and Grampa playing cards and having wonderful and thoughtful conversations. He loved listening to and playing all music, and not only played the electric and acoustic guitar beautifully, but also the piano and the ocarina. He would play beautiful songs on the ocarina from one of his favorite video games, The Legend of Zelda. Shane had a wonderful, heartfelt voice and everyone loved listening to him play and sing. He especially loved playing guitar and singing with his brother Steven, who taught him not only the guitar, but computers as well. After lots of hard work and learning, he created and maintained his own Minecraft server for him and his sister and cousin and friend to play on. Shane was very smart, and could discuss physics for hours with his sister and father, amused by his mother’s ‘headaches’ by such scientific conversations. He also looked forward to discussing, at length, transcendental meditation and various spiritualisms with his Uncle Andy. At the same time, he could discuss metal rock, classical music, politics, Supernatural (TV show), Skyrim, Zelda, mathematics, memes, and many more interests. Shane spent many hundreds of hours working on cars with his Dad, and enjoyed driving the fruits of his labor, such as the ’74 Super Beetle, in which he learned to drive stick shift. He also worked on his dad’s cars, his sister’s and mom’s cars, and a true beater he loved toddling around in, the ol’ PT Cruiser. He also enjoyed flying an airplane, hang gliding, frolfing, tai kwan do, go-cart racing, computer repair, hiking through nature, and running. He practiced yoga on the beach, and loved to read anything he could get his hands on. Our family spent many summer vacations at Blue Harbor or Wisconsin Dells, and Shane loved to play in the pool or on the beach. He was passionate about spiritualism in all its forms. He was Christian and wanted to become Catholic, even while investigating and respecting all religions and spiritualisms. He firmly believed in the good of everyone, and that there is good in all people. He could discuss at length spiritual philosophies and beliefs, and loved learning about other ideas and people. He enjoyed meditation and yoga. Shane was a thinker and a learner, but also an adventurer, and if there was an activity, he was interested and ready to go! His sense of humor was legendary, making friends and family laugh often. His smile was genuine and given freely. His hugs were from the heart and available at all times. His forgetfulness was as legendary as his humor. He’d lose a key or cell phone as quickly as he got it, and many winters he’d come home from school having forgotten his backpack and winter coat. At least once, he lost his car, one time for three days. He would forget wallets, keys, phones, coats, IDs, and pretty much any thing. But Shane never forgot a person. He had such a huge and giving heart that he would literally give you the shirt off his back, or his shoes, jacket, money, whatever he had that you asked for. Shane was an amazingly patient man. He could, and would, talk with anyone and provide insightful advice to any friend who had the once-in-a-lifetime fortune to meet him. He was a truly empathetic, kind and loving young man. Shane was a peaceful soul who disliked arguments and violence, was never mean or spiteful, and was well-known for being a peacemaker. He would defend anyone in need, unasked. If you were sad or lonely, he was there for you with a smile, hug and wise words to help you through. If you were angry, he was there to listen to you, and offer peaceful words to help ease your anger. He would put his arm on your shoulder, smile, and calmly say “It’s OK”, and you believed it and felt his strength. He loved everyone. If Shane met you once, he considered you his friend. He struggled with mental illness for several years, but he had hope continually for an independent life and reconnection with friends he felt he’d lost. He always wanted to keep in touch with his old friends and family, and even if you didn’t call him or visit, he believed you were still his friend. Shane was truly was a sincerely good, kind-hearted, thoughtful, considerate and innocent soul. He was searching for himself and love, and the world is a darker place without him in it. Our son, grandson, brother, nephew, cousin, uncle, and friend, Shane will be desperately missed and immensely loved for eternity. He is survived by his parents, Roger and Gretchen Egeland, his grandfather Michael Kenny, and a sister Stephanie Kenny-Egeland, all of Manteno IL; 2 brothers - Steven (Nikki) Degutis of Woodstock IL, and Trevor (Kayla) Egeland of Mokena IL, and step-grandmother Diane Paczak-Egeland of Oak Lawn. He is also survived by many aunts, uncles, cousins and many nieces and nephews. Visitation will be from 2pm till the service at 7pm at Brown-Jensen Funeral Home in Manteno