BOWERS, KENTON (KENT)

Kenton (Kent) Bowers was born on August 23, 1887 in a dugout on the Dismal River to Webster and Roxie (Ripley) Bowers. He was one of the first children born in this area that was to become Hooker County.

When he was about 10 years old he had steomyelites which left him with bone prob-lems that bothered him all of his life.

When he was old enough he took a homestead north of Whitman, Nebraska.

He served in the Army during World War I for a short while. On his return home he went to Alliance, Nebraska to work. While there he married Mary Collins but this union did not last long. In a few years he moved on to Denver, Colorado to work.

When his father became ill in 1932 Kent returned to Mullen to help care for him. After his father's death in 1933, Kent remained in Mullen. He and his sister Susie tried raising chickens but gave up after a couple of years. Then Kent started house painting and painted many buildings for ranchers as well as all over Mullen.

Kent belonged to the American Legion and was an active member and worker.

Kent was a very quiet and soft spoken man. He had a dry sense of humor and always had a friendly greeting for all. He went to live in the Pioneer Memorial Rest Home about 1973 and lived there until his death on April 16, 1977. He is buried in the Ceder View Cemetery in Mullen, Nebraska.