William Dexter Lavelle was born in Pasadena, California on May 15, 1968 to the
union of William Michael Lavelle and Elinor Diane Ross Lavelle. Known to family
and friends as Dexter, he was the youngest of three children. His father preceded
him in death.

Dexter grew up in Altadena and because he could never say his name correctly when he was young, it came out as “Det-ter Bell”. To this day, a few old friends call him “Det-ter Bell” (meaning Dexter Lavelle). He attended Loma Alta Elementary School in Altadena, where he met his future wife, Aria Odessa Manuel Greenlee. He played Little League baseball in West Altadena and Pop Warner football in Pasadena. He briefly played basketball at John Muir High in Pasadena, but because of on-going problems with his ankle, he could not continue. In 1986, he graduated from John Muir High School in Pasadena. After graduation, he and a group of high school friends travelled to Hawaii. Immediately after returning from Hawaii, he travelled to Norway, where he spent three weeks with the family of a high school exchange student’s family. In 1990, he graduated from the University of La Verne with a Bachelor of Science degree in Optical Engineering.

Since graduating from college, he worked in the space industry field, mainly as a
process engineer. His job took him from California to Minneapolis, Minnesota to
Burlington, Vermont and back to California. All things scientific were his passion.
He worked on detectors that were a part of the James Webb telescope. He recently travelled to Florida for a satellite launch that included some of the
detectors that he had worked on.

On July 17, 2000, Aria and Dexter welcomed into their lives and our family,
Kesia Diamond Greenlee Lavelle. She is loved by all in the family, but she was the
center of Dexter’s world. Together they cooked, travelled, skied, golfed and went
to the gym. They also had “lively debates”. Their favorite debate subject, as of late, was “Did OJ do it?” As far as cooking went, he made excellent chicken tacos. Whenever he tried a new recipe from his many cookbooks and it turned out well,
if his mother complimented him….his answer would always be, “Mom it’s not rocket science”.

In 2011, Diane, Dexter, Kesia and Nyah travelled to Disney World, in Orlando, Florida. For some reason, the mosquitoes were quite attracted to Dexter and
Kesia, but they left Diane and Nyah alone. Just prior to his untimely death, Dexter
and Kesia were planning a road trip up the West Coast to scout out colleges
prior to her senior year in high school. In 2014, their travels took them the southern route; to New Orleans and of all places, to the home of Honey Boo-Boo.
Additionally, Dexter was the deejay at family gatherings. Most notably, he deejayed on the Fourth of July and at Kesia’s birthday parties.

Dexter’s legacy will forever live on in his beloved daughter and best friend, Kesia.

Dexter leaves to cherish his memory: His beloved daughter, Kesia Lavelle and Kesia’s mother, Aria Odessa Greenlee of Altadena, CA ; his mother, Diane Robinson of Altadena, CA; brothers, Michael D. Lavelle and wife Susanne of Santa Monica, CA, Anthony Derreck Lavelle of Altadena, CA; sisters, Robyn Lavelle Latimer of Altadena, CA , Shanay Lavelle of Altadena, CA, Ashley Lavelle of Los Angeles ;nephews, Ryan Latimer and Kyle Latimer of Altadena, CA; niece Nyah Latimer of Altadena, CA; aunt Terri Nelson and husband Leon of Yuma, AZ; cousin Makisha Moore and her daughter Shai McQuillen of Douglasville, GA.; and a host of relatives, family and friends.

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