Kent Holen

Funeral Services for F. Kent Holen will be conducted from the Nelson-Bauer Funeral Home in Holdrege, Nebraska, on Saturday, December 16, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. with Pastor Matt Hacker officiating. Interment will be in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery north of Bertrand, following the services.

F. Kent Holen, 78 years of age, of Seattle, Washington (formerly of Bertrand, Nebraska), passed away peacefully on December 6, 2017, at his home in Seattle, surrounded by family. This date is also the Feast of Saint Nicholas, which seems fitting as Kent was also known to have a generous nature. Kent was born August 4, 1939 at Bertrand, the youngest of three children born to Floyd and Grace (Anderson) Holen. He and his sisters, Marlys and Phyllis, were raised on the family farm near Bertrand.

Kent received his primary education at the Bertrand Community School and graduated from Bertrand High School, with the class of 1957. He then pursued higher education at Kearney State College in Kearney, Nebraska (which later became the University of Nebraska at Kearney). He served as the 1961 Class President, earning his Bachelor's Degree in English. He was in the Sigma Tau Delta English Honorary Fraternity, and was an active member of Sigma Nu Fraternity. He later earned a Master's Degree in Journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Kent completed the seminar for High School Journalism Teachers, and taught at Fremont and Sydney High Schools in Nebraska as an instructor of English and Journalism.

On August 23, 1959, he married Rosalie Ruth Dean at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Bertrand. The couple made their homes in Fremont, Sydney, and Lincoln, Nebraska, where they started a family and Kent taught school prior to moving to Overland Park, Kansas, where he accepted a position as Advertising Representative for Farm Journal magazine. He moved with his family to Littleton, Colorado, in 1974 to start a new position at Nelson-Crowe Publications as Advertising Sales Manager. Kent was then in Marketing and Sales at American Water Works Association until his retirement in 1994. He served on the National Agri-Marketing Association, and was President of NAMA in 1970. Kent also served as President of Denver Agricultural & Livestock Club in the 1980's. He led his team in Sales most years both in National and International Sales, and became known as "Make it happen Kent."

In his younger years, at home in the neighborhood, Kent coached girls' softball for five years along with youth soccer, for his daughter, Jill and teammates in the 1970's and 1980's. He also coached basketball for three years for his son, Jeffrey's team. And with daughter, Jayne and her friends, he taught them to drive in his family cars, which he kept fueled-up and well-serviced. Kent used his strong, natural sense of direction with them, and his experience of how to navigate many of the major cities of the U.S. that he drove throughout his career.

He got the nickname of "The Epicenter" from his children because he could frequently be right in the middle of certain big, current events, such as the San Francisco earthquake, and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. He will be remembered for his keen sense of direction, and a mind for current events.

Kent was a member of Saint Phillip Lutheran Church, then Holy Trinity Church, both in Littleton, Colorado, where he served on the Church Council, and was an usher in the 1970's and 1980's respectively. He was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Bertrand as a child, and again later in his life moving back to Phelps County for a time in the 1990's.

In 2006, he was President of the University of Nebraska at Kearney Alumni Association.

In January 2012, Kent moved to Seattle to live near his daughters: Jill and Jayne, and attended Denny Park Lutheran Church in Seattle, Washington. He enjoyed attending his grandchildren's baseball, and basketball games while living in Seattle as well.

Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by one sister, Marlys Nelson and her husband, Ron.

Kent spoke often of the many relatives and friends from Nebraska he held dearly in his heart, and leaves to remember his life; his children and their families including: his daughter, Jayne Louise Ulander and her husband, Perry of North Bend, Washington; son, Jeffrey Kent Holen and his wife, Jane Marie with children: Ethan, Luke, Landon, and Abby of Littleton, Colorado; and daughter, Jill René Lessig and her husband, Kevin with children: Tommy Kent and Sarah, of Seattle, Washington; one sister, Phyllis Silverberg and her husband, Norris of Holdrege; niece, Ann and her husband, Jim Larson and family; nephew, Gregg Silverberg; and a host of other relatives and friends.

Visitation will be held on Friday, December 15, 2017 from 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. with family greeting from 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. at the Nelson-Bauer Funeral Home in Holdrege.

A memorial has been established in Kent's honor, and will be designated at a later date.

Expressions of caring and kindness can be sent to the family at www.nelsonbauerfh.com

The Nelson-Bauer Funeral Home in Holdrege is in charge of the arrangements.