Kent Alex Dolezal

Kent "Kendra" Alex Dolezal, 60 of North Liberty, IA, passed away suddenly Monday, December 22, 2025, due to natural causes. A Funeral Service will be held at 4 PM, Friday, January 2, 2026, at Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service, Iowa City. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the funeral. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Kent Dolezal Memorial Fund.

Kent was preceded in death by his parents- Frank "Bub" B. Dolezal, Sr. and Ruth O. (Carlson) Dolezal and his cousin, Thomas Carlson. He is survived by siblings; Alan (Melba) Lyvers of Iowa City, Dara Ketterer & two nephews Devan and Erik Ketterer of Verona, PA, and Scot Dolezal (LeAnn) of North Liberty.

Kent was an extremely kind and thoughtful individual. He truly loved and respected people, all of nature, animals and life. A cat lover – he was also survived by a beautiful orange tabby cat named Ely.

Kent attended Clear Creek High School. While employed in building maintenance for many years, Kent was also an entrepreneur who took risks. At one time he ran his own lawn maintenance company. Kent had a CDL license and most recently was a garbage truck driver for Johnson County Refuse. Kent was very creative. He developed a love for photography and started his own company Light of World Photography.

At one time Kent was an active volunteer in his church providing sound system and other technical or general support as needed at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Marion, IA.

Kent was also very brave. Most recently, even at their advanced age, they decided to come out to the world as transgender. They selected the name Kendra and on Facebook announced that they wished to share their journey and hoped that others would learn to be themselves.

They chose the name "Aspire" to inspire themself and others to pursue their goals. They were very concerned about the rights of transgender & other non-traditional individuals with different sexual identification and/or sexual orientation in this current political climate.

As a transgender woman, Kendra renewed her love of bicycling. For many years they participated with Iowa Ragbrai group. Recently they joined the Bike Iowa City group and have enjoyed many rides with new friends.