Kent L. Bonney of Chatham, Massachusetts, passed away on January 14, 2025, having lived his 84 years to the fullest. Born in Mount Kisco, New York in 1940 to Sherwood M. and Harriet (Brady) Bonney, he was raised in Scarsdale, New York, where he was classmates and then sweethearts with his future wife, Anne Garey. He graduated Mount Hermon High School and then attended Lehigh University. Around this time, he began visiting Anne in Chatham for summers, where he worked at Nickerson's Fish & Lobster on the pier and at Howard Johnson's in Orleans. Kent graduated from Lehigh in 1962 as a member of ROTC with a major in Finance. He soon joined the US Air Force as a pilot and married his beloved Anne in 1964. They moved to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where he flew C130s and C141s to Europe, and then later in Vietnam. In 1969, he took a job as a pilot for Delta Airlines in Atlanta, GA where he worked for 32 years. He and Anne raised their family in north Atlanta: son, Curtis Warren, daughter, Laurel Anne, and son, John Louis. In 1978, he and Anne purchased a 2nd home in Chatham - a fixer with a tractor in the shed and a '51 Cadillac in the garage. He and his family spent summers on the Cape; when Kent retired from Delta in 2000, he and Anne moved there, full-time.

Kent loved being on the water. In retirement, he and Anne cruised Florida and the Bahamas over several years in his 42-foot trawler, Windsong. In Chatham, he fished for blues and bass at the south end of Monomoy, whenever the weather permitted, and even when it did not. He found peace and harmony in nature - whether walking the trails and beaches of Boca Grande, Florida and Cape Cod, digging for clams at low tide, or photographing pelicans at sunrise. He loved music and sang baritone in several choral groups both in Chatham and in Boca Grande, as well as the First Congregational Church choir in Chatham. He was an athlete - a runner for many years, and a long-time tennis regular at the Boca Grande Club and the Chatham Beach and Tennis Club. Kent was a lifelong volunteer, helping out with church and community functions in Atlanta, Boca Grande, and Chatham. He volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, hauled pumpkins for Halloween and boxed up Christmas decorations at the First Congregational Church. He chaired Chatham's first night celebration and later worked with the Chatham Democratic Committee.

Kent's warmth and enthusiasm lit up the room; he never met a stranger he didn't come to know. His curiosity and laughter were contagious; his love, generosity, and support for colleagues, friends and family, kids and (6) grandkids, were unbounded, a legacy for all those who knew him.

He is survived by his sister, Jean (Bonney) Smith, his beloved wife of 60 years, Anne (Garey) Bonney and their 3 children: Curtis W. Bonney, his wife, Sonnet Retman, and their 2 daughters, Ava and Sylvie; Laurel A. Bonney, her husband, Mark Semon, and their 2 children, James and Daphne, and John L. Bonney, his wife, Erica Bonney, and their 2 daughters, Lila and Cate.

A memorial service in celebration of Kent's life will be held at the First Congregational Church of Chatham on Feb 20th at 1:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the First Congregational Church in Chatham, the Chatham Labyrinth, or the Chatham Harvesters Cooperative Food Pantry Fish Share.

For online condolences, please visit Nickerson Funeral Homes at www.nickersonfunerals.com

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Boca Beacon from Jan. 24 to Jan. 22, 2025.