A Farewell for Kent

I this is really not about Kent. but about his wife and daughters. It seems the only time we ever met Kent was during times of life's important passages. We met him in North Dakota where we had traveled from both coasts to celebrate our son Tim's marriage to his wife Joni. Kent had grown up somewhere in North Dakota and, although he didn't like to travel, he was happy to join in that special celebration.

We met Kent again when John's sister Sharon, Kent's wife, was in Duke University Hospital having just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer,  and we were there to see her. We promised her that we would look out for her girls, particularly Lindsay who was about to begin her college career at Mills College in Oakland. 

John traveled back to North Carolina to say good-bye to his sister while I was in southern California helping out after the birth of our second granddaughter, Claire. Kent was bereft, but we knew he would step up to help Chelsey who was still in high school. He had been a stay-at-home Dad for some time, taking care of the girls while Sharon taught at the Carolina Friends School.

Lindsay lived with us for a year while she studied 'multi-media art' and French at Mills.  It was a difficult time for her so soon after her mother had passed away. It was a difficult time for all of us...but with the help of some of Sharon's old high school friends we did honor Lindsay's request to scatter Sharon's ashes on Mount Tamalpias. Kent brought the ashes from North Carolina, and I was very touched by the way he had wrapped them in cotton wool so that no harm would come to them.

The final time we met Kent was when he came to California for Lindsay and Adisa's wedding. He was so proud of his daughter and the fact that she was marrying a musician, for music, and his close friendship with blues singer, john Lee Hooker was a very important part of his life. He was a very self contained man and we felt we never really knew him. 

The picture I posted today is a screen shot from a slide show that was a part of the memorial for Kent that was held on Zoom today. He died in a care home in North Carolina where he had been living since he was diagnosed with dementia. The picture shows Lindsay with her daughter, Grace, Chelsey and Kent. We learned a lot about Kent as various people spoke about him. As is so often the case, we wished we had gotten to know him better during his lifetime. His daughters are a testament to the caring upbringing not only of their parents, but a whole village of friends and relatives.

Good-bye Kent, we hardly knew ye....