Michael Oran Kent passed away September 2, 2025. He was born June 16, 1954 to Oran and Shirley (Gilbreath) Kent in southern Illinois. His marriage to Deborah Myers began in 1975 and they were so blessed to have recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary!
He graduated from Amboy High School in 1972. From there, he went to work at Trekker Chemical in Mendota, starting on the production line. Mike worked hard and was made supervisor of production over all three shifts.
Then unfortunately, a fire destroyed the facility on the day we were packing for vacation. One of Mike's proudest accomplishments was rebuilding--- from memory-- the production line at another location with the help of his co-workers. He decided not to relocate there and found employment at Fairmount Minerals (later it became Covia) in Wedron. Mike retired from there in 2019.
How do you sum up someone's life in a few paragraphs? Nothing would do him justice. He is a man of integrity. Somewhat on the quiet side, yet that even spoke volumes of his character. Mike is kind, honest, and would do whatever he could to help others, often foregoing what needed to be done at home to put others first. God must have called him to do some other work, so keeping true to form, Mike left us to go help. If you listen really closely you may even be able to hear Mike chuckling about not having to clean out the garage now! Although he had many health issues during the last years of his life, he accepted them with an attitude of "whatever will be, will be". He will be remembered with much love and missed dearly. We offer infinite thanks to God for allowing Mike to touch our lives so beautifully. We are so grateful for all the doctors who helped him; they saved his life many times. And although our hearts are breaking right now, we know that we will see Mike again when God calls each one of us home. We know this because our hope and trust is in the Lord our God.
He is survived by his wife Deborah, his sister Linda Kurtz, brothers Rick Kent, Lon Kent, Alan (Diane) Kent, and Darrell (Karena) Kent, sister-in-law and brother-in-law Betsy and Ron Hutchinson, sister-in-law Deb Myers and many nieces, nephews, cousins and their families.
Mike was preceded in death by a child through miscarriage, his parents, father-in-law and mother-in-law Ed and Ann Myers, brother-in-laws Bob Kurtz, Rick Myers, and Gary Myers, and sisters-in-law Sheila Myers, Marlene Kent, and Gloria Kent and niece Tracy Ernat.

Visitation will be 9:00 - 10:30 AM, Saturday, Sep. 6, 2025 at Horner-Merritt Funeral Home, Mendota, IL.  Funeral Service will be at 10:30 AM following the visitation with Father Michael Driscoll officiating at Horner-Merritt Funeral Home.  Burial will follow at St. Theresa Catholic Cemetery.  Memorials are to be established to the family.  Visit www.horner-merritt.com for online guest book.