# @_emilyoneal on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DT1mkEwDaEj
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/54108719-emilyoneal-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/b74eabd6cc.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-01-23T03:07:54.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** emily o'neal (@_emilyoneal) — https://gondola.cc/_emilyoneal

## Caption

After a nearly two-year battle with brain cancer, my dad, Steve Cavanaugh, passed away on January 20, 2026. He was at home, surrounded by his family, just as he wanted.

I don’t know yet how to talk about my dad in the past tense. What do you mean he’s gone? This is someone I’ve known and loved - and been loved by -my entire life.

It feels especially cruel to lose someone like Steve Cavanaugh, because he truly was the best of all of us. He spent his life loving and serving others: as a husband, a father, a grandfather, a pastor for more than 40 years, and then, in retirement, as a chaplain.

Shortly after he started his job as a chaplain at Treyton Oak Towers here in Louisville, I went to visit him at work. He already knew every single person we encountered by name - security guards, staff, custodians, residents, therapists - and he knew what was going on in their lives. That was just who he was. He devoted his life to knowing and caring for others, and it genuinely brought him joy.

One of the things my dad did best was guiding people through difficult times, including the end of life - hospital visits, funerals, the heaviest moments imaginable. He had an incredible gift for showing up with compassion and offering comfort. My hope is that he felt the same care he spent his life giving to others as he moved from this life into the next.

“Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.”

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## Credits

| Name | Username | Profile | Role |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| emily o'neal | @_emilyoneal | https://gondola.cc/_emilyoneal | Photographer |

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