LEDLOW, KENT

Kent Ledlow passed into eternity on October 29, 2023 in Lakewood, Colorado. The last years of his life were spent at the Westlake Care Community in Lakewood, where he was lovingly cared for.
Kent was born on November 10, 1943 to Elaine and Carl Ledlow of Denton. Kent studied at the University of North Texas from September 1961 to May 1965. He did graduate work at Yale University, studying lighting design.
His father Carl was an accountant for the Veterans Administration and his mother Elaine was chief cataloguer for the Library at the University of North Texas, then known as North Texas State University (NTSU).
Kent grew up in Denton and always had fond thoughts of that town. The family frequently drove to Dallas to visit museums. One of Kent’s favorite memories from that time was the family’s 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, pink with chrome strips that went down the sides! According to Kent, cars back then only lasted 3-4 years so the family habitually traded models every few years.
He graduated from NTSU and subsequently studied lighting at Yale University. Eventually Kent and his friends from his NTSU days formed a lightening company called Jon, Mark and Kent Lightening Company. He spent a summer in Estes Park, CO, as Lightening Director for the Dark Horse Theater. Kent remembers that summer with fondness. He was an only child and recalled, “It was like a big family. I never lived in a big family but there was a brother-sister friendship between everybody.”
In addition to his father who worked for the VA, he had some cousins in the Navy. Kent thought it sounded like fun, joined, and spent four years in the Navy. He served on the aircraft carrier the USS Yorktown. On the ship, he was a weather forecaster and meticulously documented the changes in atmospheric air pressure hourly. If the air pressure went down quickly, inclement weather would soon arrive.
Kent traveled around the world in Yorktown. He remembered going around the tip of South America and visiting Europe. He liked Germany but didn’t enjoy the beer. Two swallows and he was done! (His preferred drink was a gin and tonic with lime.) He was particularly fond of Holland because of the friendliness of the people and the quantity of museums he could visit.
He was on the Yorktown when John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, splashed down in 1962. The Yorktown was the ship that retrieved John Glenn from the ocean.
For years he was a faithful member of Christ Episcopal Church in Dallas, sharing his expertise in lighting and giving rides to church to those who had no transportation.
A Funeral Mass for Kent will be at Christ Episcopal Church in Dallas (534 West Tenth Street) on Thursday, Dec. 7 at 2:00, with a graveside service at Roselawn Cemetery in Denton Dec. 8 at 2:00. His wish was to be buried by his parents.