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Service:
Private family service is planned
Funeral home:
Fricke-Calvert-Schrader, Lincoln
Obituary
Walter Kent Hower, 68, of Lincoln,
passed away on Saturday, January 23, 2021 in
Lincoln.
Kent was born on April 4, 1952 in Lincoln, the son
of Walter and Elaine Hower and younger brother to
Terry Hower. Kent is survived by his three children:
Tara (Matt) Comstock, Ali Williams, and Kyle
(Caroline) Hower, and six grandchildren. He is
preceded in death by his parents, brother, and his
son-in-law, Ryan Williams.
Kent’s greatest love and his proudest achievement
were his children and grandchildren. He was “Dad” to
Tara and Matt, Ali and Ryan, and Kyle and Caroline,
and “Papa” to Ryan and Owen Comstock, Harper and
Barrett Williams, and Nolan and Isla Hower. To them,
he passed on his kind heart, a sarcastic sense of
humor, and an unwavering devotion to family. There
was nothing he loved more than laughing around a
table with his children and their spouses while
watching his grandchildren play and grow up
together.
Kent was a lifelong Lincoln resident. He graduated
from Chester East Lincoln grade school and Lincoln
Community High School and then planted his roots in
Lincoln to raise his family. For decades, Kent
worked as a Service Representative for Pitney Bowes
in Springfield, where he was a friend and mentor to
colleagues and a trusted resource for his clients.
When he retired in 2014, Kent enjoyed spending his
time on his multitude of hobbies and interests, as
well as spending time with family and his close
friends. Kent was an avid “fixer” with a mechanical
brain. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t diagnose,
take apart, and put back together to make better
than before. Often, he applied that gift to musical
instruments, as he enjoyed buying, refurbishing, and
selling guitars and drum kits. |
Kent was a talented musician, a
passion that began when he was a child and stayed
with him his entire life. He passed along a love of
great music to Tara, Ali, and Kyle, whose fondest
childhood memories are filled with his guitar
strumming and Rock & Roll legends playing from the
stereo.
In his retirement, Kent also indulged
his love for traveling (by car or on his motorcycle)
and often combined it with another of his lifelong
hobbies: photography. Aside from his children and
grandchildren, his favorite photography subjects
were the mountains of Colorado and the beaches of
Hawaii.
In 2000, Kent received a kidney transplant that
saved his life after a long battle with Polycystic
Kidney Disease. Since then, he has been an advocate
for organ donation and a supporter of the PKD
Foundation (pkdcure.org). While we still know that
Kent has left us too soon, it’s only because of
organ donation that Kent lived another 20 years,
within which he met his grandchildren and saw his
own children graduate, get married, and start
families of their own.
Kent will be greatly missed and remembered often by
all that knew and loved him.
The family is being served by
Fricke-Calvert-Schrader Funeral Home in Lincoln and,
due to COVID safety precautions, only a small
private family service is planned.
Memorials may be made in Kent’s honor to the Gift of
Hope, the organ and tissue donation network of
Illinois.
Click here to send a note of condolence to the family of Walter
Kent Hower |
