Sandra Marjorie Sacks Kent

1925 - 2016

Kent Sandra Marjorie Sacks Kent, mother, wife, educator, lover of language, literature and above all, family, passed away peacefully at age 91 on August 10, 2016 in Columbus, Ohio. Born to Solomon Sacks and Ada Rosenson Sacks on January 31, 1925, Sandra grew up in Akron, Ohio, the city she called home and where she spent most of her life. After graduating from Buchtel High School in 1943, she first attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio but transferred to the University of Wisconsin, Madison for her sophomore year. There she earned her B.A. and more importantly, met her future husband, Lee Kent. They married in 1945 and remained so until Lee's untimely passing in 1976. In 1948 they returned to Akron and by the mid-1960s Sandra earned teaching credentials at the University of Akron. In 1963 she began a teaching career at Buchtel High as a teacher of French and English. From there she transferred to Harvey S. Firestone Senior High School in 1966 where she continued her career as a revered teacher of American and English literature until her retirement in 1977. The family lived on Parkside Drive in northwest Akron starting in 1956 where she reared three sons. She remained there as "neighborhood grandmother" to the younger families nearby whom she loved dearly, until deciding to move to central Ohio to be closer to family in late 2009. Throughout her long life, Sandra's main love was the English language, a subject she not only taught, but studied constantly and loved to play with, developing a well-earned reputation as a top flight crossword puzzler, and fiercely competitive and virtually unbeatable Scrabble player. She loved reading and in particular enjoyed William Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll and Vladimir Nabokov. She always had Mozart on in the background. Most of all, she loved her family, caring for her own parents and showering her boundless love on her siblings, sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her husband Lee, and is survived by her two younger brothers, James (Ulrike) Sacks of Chicago, IL and Robert Sacks of Santa Fe, NM; her three sons, Joel (Ada) Kent of Worthington, OH, David (Cindy) Kent of Pleasant View, TN and Daniel (Carol) Kent of Palatine, IL.; five grandchildren, Jonathan (Lisa) Kent, Marissa (Zachary) Kent-White, James Kent, Claudia and Jackson Crook; and four great-grandchildren, Joseph and Hannah Kent, and Asher and Thomas White. The funeral will be held at the GORDON-FLURY MEMORIAL FUNERAL HOME, 1260 Collier Rd., Akron on Sunday, August 14 at 1 p.m., with interment at Rose Hill Burial Park, 3653 W. Market St., Akron. Special thank to the wonderful caregivers of Home Instead Senior Care and Kobacker House. Please send donations in the memory of Sandra Kent either to the Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank, Temple Israel (Akron) or the Kobacker House Hospice Care (Columbus).