Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 1, 1993 TAG: 9310010214
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Their deaths Thursday were no different, coming less than an hour apart of natural causes.
"He has said all his life that he could not live without her," said Soni Mills, their youngest daughter.
So when James Kent learned Thursday morning that cancer finally had his wife close to death, he suffered a heart attack at his home and was rushed to the same hospital where she lay.
He died about 6:30 a.m.; she followed less than an hour later.
"He didn't want to live without her, and they went together," Mills said.
James Alfred Kent, a retired lieutenant colonel with the U.S. Marines and a veteran of three wars, was 68. Willie Mai "Daisy" Kent, a mother of four daughters and past president of the Women's Club of Vinton, was 66.
Since about last Christmas, she had been fighting cancer while he struggled with emphysema.
"As Mom would get better, Dad would get better," Mills said. "As Mom got worse, Dad would get worse. They basically stayed together."
A week ago, Daisy Kent suffered a stroke and was taken to the hospital. By Thursday morning, extensive brain damage made it clear she was close to death.
After hearing the news, James Kent walked into a bathroom and collapsed. His wife was not aware of his death a short time later.
They will be laid to rest - together, as always - Saturday at Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens, following 1 p.m. services at Thrasher Memorial United Methodist Church.
"In a way, I'm sort of glad it happened this way," Mills said.
by CNB