Darrell Conley Kent, a past resident of Moscow, died peacefully in Sammamish, Wash., on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. He was 90. Darrell was born on Sept. 12, 1933, in Monroe, La., to Dallas and Aubrey Kent. He received his Bachelor of Science in physics from Louisiana State University in 1954 and a Master of Science degree in physics from the University of New Mexico in 1959. He then switched his focus to mathematics, receiving his Ph.D. from UNM in 1963. He taught at Washington State University for over 43 years and published 106 papers in general topology. More specifically, his research addressed uniform spaces, completions, probabilistic metric spaces, ordered topological spaces and especially convergence structures, including what are now called “Kent convergence structures.”
During the summer of 1960, Darrell met his wife, Jan Benda, on a ferry in Norway while they were both hitchhiking and cycling across Europe. They were married in 1961.
Darrell and Jan have four children, Cathy (married to Gilbert) Lingle, of Battle Ground, Wash., Becky (married to Tom) Kent-Dobias, of Sammamish, Dan (married to Tami) Kent, of Portland, Ore. and Sara (married to Dallas) Deluca, of Portland, as well as foster daughter Cathy Fernandez, of Miami, and 11 grandchildren. After many years in the Palouse, Jan now resides in Issaquah.
Faith was especially important to Darrell. Jan and Darrell were active members of St. Augustine’s Catholic Church for 50 years. Darrell was a talented musician, playing complex classical and other music by ear. He loved sharing his talent, which he did often at home, church, local nursing homes and during the weekly prayer group gatherings that were so special to him.
He enjoyed gardening and shared the abundance wherever he could. His children started the first farmers market in Moscow, by selling pumpkins on Main Street from a Volkswagen bus.
His beloved dog Koto preceded him in death by several hours on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at noon, Saturday, Oct. 26, at Mary, Queen of Peace Catholic Church, 1121 228th Ave., SE, Sammamish, with a reception to follow in the parish hall. The Mass will be livestreamed and a link to view it will be posted on his memorial webpage: cascadememorial.com/obituary/664238/Darrell-Conley-Kent.
