Kevin Steven

James Griffin was born in Englewood and raised in Hyde Park, Chicago, by his aunt after both of his parents had died when he was a young child. His aunt could not afford to send him to a Catholic school so Jim paid his own tuition at De La Salle High School himself by working on a newspaper truck, delivering newspapers at night, on weekends and in the summer. In 1957 he graduated from De La Salle and entered the novitiate at Glencoe, Missouri, and received the religious name of Brother Kevin Steven. He earned a bachelor's and master's degree from St. Mary's College in Winona, Minnesota, and later his doctorate from St. Louis University in 1976. From 1961 to 1966 he taught at De La Salle High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, Price College High School in Amarillo, Texas, and Rummel High School in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1968 he taught and worked in administration at Christian Brothers College in Memphis, Tennessee. Brother Kevin returned there to teach and serve as Dean of the School of Arts from 1986 to 1992. In 1971 Kevin assumed the principalship at La Salle High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, and remained there eight years until he was transferred to St. Mary's College in Winona as teacher and administrator. Kevin served for brief periods at Helias High School in Jefferson City, Missouri, and Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois. He became principal of St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, in 1982 and served there until 1986. In 1992 he was assigned to Bethlehem University. He returned to the United States in 1996 and was involved in development work at De La Salle Institute in Chicago. Kevin returned to Bethlehem in 1998 to help the University celebrate its 25th anniversary, but died of a heart attack only hours after arriving in Bethlehem. He was fifty-nine years old and had been a De La Salle Christian Brother for forty-one years