Kent Kooi, 77, of Kearney, Missouri, passed away on May 19, 2026 at Oakridge of Plattsburg. His family will honor his wishes of having a private celebration of life at a later time.
Kent was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa to Edward and Muriel Kooi. He was the oldest of three children. He graduated from Aplington Community School in 1967. After high school, Kent went on to Wartburg College. He then joined the U.S. Army Reserves, serving six years. Simultaneously, he also joined the Border Patrol, where he dedicated the first eighteen years of his career with the federal government to four different stations across the country.
Kent started his career as a Border Patrol agent in Yuma, Arizona. Then he and his family moved to upstate New York, where Kent was stationed in Rouse’s Point. Another transfer led them back across the country to El Centro, California and then later on to Lordsburg, New Mexico. In 1988, Kent and his family moved to Kearney, MO after he was transferred to the Department of Immunization and Naturalization in Kansas City, where he spent another thirteen years serving as a federal agent prior to his retirement in March 2001.
Kent was a historian through and through, and he thoroughly enjoyed writing and taking photographs. For eight years, he wrote a column for The Kearney Courier. Kent had a way with words and a special knack for storytelling, whether that was while penning an article for the newspaper or while telling a wildly made up story full of imagination and humor to his grandchildren. In addition to writing for the local newspaper, Kent also dedicated his free time to doing extensive research, in connection with the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, to ensure that countless service members in the Midwest, both living and deceased, received their much deserved Medal of Honor recognitions.
While all of that was of great importance to Kent, what was most important to him was being “Papa” to his grandchildren. He tended to give nicknames to all of his people. It was only natural that when each grandchild came into this world, they also received a nickname from him along the way. You could almost always find Kent sitting on the floor in the toy room, entertaining them with made up games, teaching them the most random of facts and just interacting with them in a way that only their Papa could. He was a quiet man, a gentle giant and a wonderful Papa.
He was preceded in death by his wife of forty-five years, Karen; father, Edward Kooi; mother, Muriel Kooi; and youngest sister, Carol Kooi.
Survivors include his son Kevin, and his family (wife Laura and children Kennedy and Keagan) of Kansas City, MO; son Kyle, and his family (wife Rachelle and children Grace, Ava, Brecken and Adalyn) of Kearney; daughter Katie, and her family (husband Doug and child Dillon) of Kearney; daughter Shannon (children Kepler and Anabelle and their dad, Brent Page) of Yuma, AZ; sister Kristi, (husband Darryl) of Gilbert, AZ; and numerous nieces and nephews and extended family.
Kent will be missed by everyone that knew him, from the family that loved and adored him to the friends he made throughout his life and the special connections he made during the last few years with the residents and staff at Oak Pointe of Kearney and, most recently, the staff at Oakridge of Plattsburg.
Arrangements in care of Fry-Bross & Spidle Funeral Home, Kearney.
