Obituary: Kent, Gary L.
Age 69
KENT,
Gary L.
(Age 61)
Gary was born on May 16, 1943 in Vancouver, WA.
He died peacefully on October 1, 2012, with his family and close friends by his side.
His family moved to Spokane in 1948 and he had resided here the rest of his life.
He graduated from Lewis and Clark High School in 1961.
He thoroughly enjoyed life to the fullest and kept many of his high school friendships throughout the years.
A special tribute to the “Fearsome Foursome” friendships of Larry Blandy, Dave Cerenzia and Mike Nicholson.
Gary loved people and always said “a stranger is just a friend that I haven’t met yet”.
He had a special gift of connecting to almost everyone he met.
Gary had a 44 year career at Kaiser Aluminum/ Mead Works.
He did a variety of jobs within the plant, but hands down his favorite position was working in the chemistry lab.
After retiring from Kaiser, Gary started working at Durham School Services driving school bus.
He especially enjoyed driving the special needs routes and had a tender place in his heart for each and every student.
Gary was an exceptional athlete and enjoyed and excelled in all sports.
He loved all water sports, all sports that were associated with a ball, and especially passionate about golf.
He had bragging rights for making an honest “hole in one”.
What he enjoyed even more was watching his beloved children and grandchildren share an equal enthusiasm for sports.
He never missed any of their games.
Gary’s love of other people was evidenced through his missionary work in Mexico.
APUMC sponsored him five years in a row to build houses and minister to the people of Chewawa City, Mexico.
Gary touched the lives of countless people and gave complete credit for this to God and to the program of Alcoholics Anonymous.
With 27 years of sobriety he truly left this world happy, joyous and free!
There was nothing more important to Gary than his family.
He is survived by his loving wife of 24 years Judy Kent and daughter Stacey Kent.
Former wife Gene Ann Kent, and son Troy Kent, daughter Jamie (Brian) Parisotto, his grandchildren Gage and Koby Kent and Desmond and Bradee Parisotto.
Brothers Frank Kent (Barb), Don Kent and sisters Brenda Via (Bo), Kathy Bacon (John) all of Spokane and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins as well as a huge family of friends of Bill W. He was preceded in death by his parents Floyd and Elsie Kent.
We would like to extend sincere and heartfelt thanks for the excellent and compassionate care given to Gary throughout his illness to: Daniel Randolph, M.D./Columbia Medical Associates, the entire staff of DaVita Dialysis Center/North Spokane, Dr. Nelson Chow/Kidney Care Spokane, Dr. Stephen Anthony, Shanna Majors and the entire staff of Evergreen Hematology & Oncology, Sacred Heart Medical Center with special thanks to the wonderful staff of 8 South and the gift of life given through the many blood donations given in Gary’s name.
There will be two celebrations for Gary’s life:
First, A Friends of Bill W., potluck and Memorial Services will be held on Saturday, October 13 from 4 to 7 pm at Center Pointe located at 1408 North Washington Street.
Second, A Church Memorial Service for Gary will be held on Sunday, October 14 at 3:00 pm at Audubon Park United Methodist Church located at 3908 N. Driscoll Blvd.
Memorial contributions can be made to either Worley Community Church, located at 30203 South 1st street, Worley, ID 83876 or Audubon Park United Methodist Church (address above), to be used as needed in the service of others.