Larry Denzil Kent

Larry Denzil Kent passed away March 23, 2021 at the age of 73. Larry was born to Edward and Myrtle (Hobbs) Kent on April 24, 1947 in Bloomington, Indiana. Larry married Linda (Sutton) Kent on January 31, 1996 and she preceded him in death on June 5, 2014. A funeral service will be at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, April 3, 2021 at Jewell-Rittman Family Funeral Home with Pastor Paul Burton officiating. Visitation will be at 9:00 a.m. until service time. Burial will follow at Donaldson Cemetery. Larry graduated from Columbus High School in 1965 and went on to attain his associates degree in electronics and electrical engineering at Indiana Vocational Technical College in 1978. Larry worked for Honeywell and Craig technology for 42 years as well as working for NASA tracking stations on Ascension Island and would gather data from various satellites, the Sky Lab space craft, Bermuda Island as a main operator of data gathering computers, Wallops Island as a field engineer. He maintained and operated satellites and maintained flight antennas and associated data gathering equipment. Larry Kent was a master electronics technician who spent his career working for several companies supporting different NASA missions including the Space Shuttle, Soyuz emergency support, human space flight, and numerous satellite programs. Larry worked for multiple companies including Honeywell, LJT and Associates, and, finally, with Craig Technologies. Throughout his career, Larry was a world traveler performing work at Ascension Island, Bermuda, and Wallops Island, Virginia. Over the years, Larry supported and repaired large antenna tracking and radar systems that tracked a multitude of spacecraft to ensure command, control and data delivery for each project. At his last position, he used his talents to maintain equipment and monitor antenna performance for the NASA Near Earth Network that supports multiple earth sensing satellites that include Landsat, Terra, Aqua, Aura, ICESat-2, SMAP, Cygnus, as well as many others, helping make great contributions to mankind’s next great adventure, the exploration of outer space. In a way, Larry was a ground breaking explorer using the latest technologies to help further our understanding of space. Larry was a beloved member of the NASA Wallops team and his contributions will be forever remembered. Larry is survived by daughter, Lori (Tim) Miller of Pocomoke City, MD; brother, Randall (Randy) and (Rosy) Kent of Lytle, TX; grandchildren, Jacob Wilson, Sarah and Noah McCleary, Michael Kent of Columbus Indiana, Timothy Miller II of Pocomoke City, MD, Isaiah Tesserau of Camby, Indiana; daughter-in-law, Sheryl Kent, of Columbus, great grandchildren, Ryder, Selena, Izabella, Ayva, Aubrey, Xavier, Halle and Carter, all of Columbus as well as his little dog, Whisper. Larry was preceded in death by his wife; parents; sister, Sharon (Sherri) Kent; sons, Sean Kent, Darin Kent and Mark Kent; grandchildren, Samantha Kent, Jamie Kent, Christopher Kent; mother and father-in-law Glendal and Dorothy Hadley; sister-in-laws, Janet Roscoe and Gloria Sutton, as well as his little dog, Misty.