William Kent

1934 - 2020

KENT - William Cornelius. September 27, 1934 - April 27, 2020. "What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others." William Cornelius Kent III was born in Virden, Manitoba on September 27, 1934 to parents Hilda & Alan Kent. Bill grew up to be a mild mannered and soft-spoken man, full of vigour but more apt to listen and deliberate before speaking his mind. Bill met the love of his life, Elaine Downes, while home for the Christmas holidays from the University of Manitoba. Following his graduation, they were married on September 1, 1958 and moved to Montreal where he took a position as a Mechanical Engineer and she worked as a laboratory technician. In Montreal four children were born: Alan 1960, Billy 1962, Susan 1964, Heather 1969. In the summers Bill raced with an Olympic class dragon keelboat sailing team on the St. Lawrence. The winters were taken up honing his skills as a skip on a competitive curling team. His team out of the Heather Curling Club went on to compete in the 1968 MacDonald Briar, returning again in 1970 and 1972 where they placed second only to the team that won the silver broom world curling championship that year. His rise to curling fame was cut short when he packed up the family and moved back to Virden, Manitoba to join the family business, Kent Flour Mills Ltd. Bill spent the next few years helping re-build Kent Flour Mills into an international business whilst weathering the storm of the 1980s recession with it's 20% mortgage rates. During this time he was active in the international milling community, sitting on the board of directors of the International Association of Operative Millers where he served as president from 1984-85. By the late 1980s Bill and his two sons were eager to begin a new business project, and thus Can-Oat Milling, the largest and most advanced technological Oat Mill in Canada, was built in Portage La Prairie. Bill would serve as president of Can-Oat milling from 1989-93. Following the success and sale of Can-Oat Milling Bill partially retired, joining his sons in yet another business venture with Tim Hortons as a consultant in his later years. He and Elaine spent 20 years living in Sebring, Florida in the winters, playing golf and bridge with their many friends and hosting the kids and grandkids for frequent visits. Bill and Elaine finally decided to bring themselves back to Canada and eventually made their way to live in Winnipeg in late 2017. Family life was also busy. The children grew up in a household full of love and laughter where anything was believed to be possible with enough perseverance. There was no end to his enthusiasm to engage the children in athletics and academic activities. He believed to the end that every child and grandchild could have been a professional golfer had "they just put their mind to it". Games were always a part of the family fun and each child and grandchild certainly has a special memory of playing their favourite one with grandpa. Bill was ingrained with a relentless belief and persistence in pursuing anything he decided that he should do. He never gave up on anything or anyone, some would argue to a fault, but that is why he was so successful at many of these things. Sport, business or family - he lead the way by telling everyone it could be done and acting with relentless persistence. If he was curling and down 8 or 10 points, he still made the team play on. He was relentless in the belief that whatever he worked towards would succeed. His confidence and persistence permeated everyone who knew him in some way to help them each to be a better person. After 85 years of life, laughter and love, Bill passed away on April 27, 2020 in Winnipeg, Manitoba at the Riverview Health Centre. He is survived by his wife, Elaine Kent (nee Downes), all four children and spouses (Alan & Marian Kent, William & Fay Kent, Susan Linski (nee Kent), Heather Kent & Alex Hare), 10 grandchildren (Jeffrey, Chelsey, Bill Jr, Aaron, Liam, Travis, Paige, Haley, Lauren, Breccan) and two great-grandchildren (Nerjes, Duke). A graveside burial service was held on Monday May 4, at the Virden Cemetery officiated by Fr. Matt Koovisk of the St. Mary's Anglican Church. There is no doubt he is in a better place now, with the perfect set of clubs and a great program to finally get him in shape and ready for the Manitoba amateur win which he always planned on achieving.