Eula Mae Kent journeyed to Heaven on Thursday, April 25, 2024, after spending 97 years making the most of her time on earth.

While official and unofficial records disagree about the precise location, Eula was born September 17, 1926, in rural northwestern Alabama to Isaac and Lou Ella Hamilton, the final baby in their baker's dozen of children. They named her Ula Earlen Hamilton. In an early display not putting up with things she didn't like, she added an E to her first name. That streak continued, for later in life, when her husband took to calling her Eula Mae, she decided to change her middle name as well.

She attended school in Pogo, Alabama, until the sixth grade, when she left to help support her family by picking cotton. While her formal education ended there - a fact for which she was self-conscious the rest of her life - her innate intelligence was undimmed.

As a teenager she left the fields to begin working at an ice cream parlor. It was a fortuitous change, for one day a young soldier who was stationed near Russellville walked in and became the love of her life.

She and John Kent married on May 11, 1944, and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, while John finished his deployment. When the war ended they lived for a brief time in John's hometown of St. Joseph, Missouri - where they spent their weekends dancing at the Frog Hop club - but ultimately chose Garnett, Kansas, to build their lives.

She and John welcomed their two sons, John Kent Jr. and Robert Kent. When she wasn't riding herd over two ornery sons, she could be found tending her extensive flower garden or puttering in her custom-build canning shed, putting up jars for winter.

After her youngest entered junior high school she returned to the workforce, first as a school cook and then at the H.D. Lee Mercantile Company, ultimately overseeing quality control until her retirement.

Though not outwardly political in nature, Eula was an avowed Democrat - "a Roosevelt Democrat," she would insist.

After John died in 1995, Eula had other suitors, but she couldn't be bothered. Instead, she devoted her time to crocheting, keeping watch on an antique store her son John opened and rooting for the KU men's basketball team, or "my boys," as she called them.

Although she was stubbornly independent her whole life, when it became clear that living on her own was no longer an option, Eula moved to Wichita to live with her son Robert, where she remained until passing peacefully with her loved ones at her side.

Eula is preceded in death by her parents, siblings, husband and older son. She is survived by Robert (Michael), her granddaughter Arin Kent-Poole (Jason), great-grandson Bridger Poole and friend/caregiver Donna Jones.

Instead of donations in her memory, Eula would want you to buy yourself something pretty.