G
eorge Charles Kent, 97, is the patriarch
of the Lake Oswego Pickleball Club.
Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, he
moved to the U.S. after high school and
graduated from Ohio State University in
1943. Toward the end of World War II,
as an enlisted man in the Army, George was stationed in
Portland, Oregon, where he learned map-making skills.
The team used aerial photos to construct topographic
maps for the possible invasion of Japan. Hiroshima and
Nagasaki changed everything.
After V-J Day, he was sent to Manila, and later Tokyo,
where he took advanced math, engineering and strength of
materials classes provided by the Army.
Upon returning to the U.S., George was re-employed by
American Can, in Maywood, Illinois, where he had worked
prior to the war. He then went on to Russel Electric, a
small company that made motors for jukeboxes, owned by
Hotpoint, based in Chicago. In 1949, he met his future wife
Barbara, a dietician, who worked at a TB hospital. They
were married March 4, 1950. A lifelong learner, in 1953 he
completed his master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering
at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Daughter Debbie was
born in 1954 followed by Trisha in 1956.
In 1962, at age 41, George relocated his family back
to Oregon. They settled in Lake Oswego, where he
purchased a sailboat and joined the Rose City Yacht Club.
Still an active member, tray in hand and khaki-clad, he
recently served ladies at the club’s annual dinner. The
scenic Columbia River Gorge, serene waters of the San
George’s 97th birthday party: Teresa Godard,
Cris Corcoran, Nancy Kirk, George Kent, Julie Mitzel,
Cathy Noonan, Susan Dorr.
Juan Islands, and—accessible only by boat—Octopus
Islands in Canada were some of the family’s many sailing
destinations.
He worked for Viewmaster in Beaverton for 10 years,
then Drake Willock, a company that made dialysis
machines. Dow Chemical eventually bought Drake, so
George is considered a retired Dow employee.
George had learned to play tennis and downhill
ski at the age of 8 in the Czech Republic. Moving to
Oregon reignited his love for both. Towering evergreens,
stunning fall foliage and craggy mountainous areas were
reminiscent of his childhood home. At 95, he gave up
both. One week later, after a gentle nudge from his friend
of nine years, Steve Boyle, George hit the pickleball court.
He’s been a regular ever since.
Though most of George’s childhood friends are gone,
he’s optimistic: “Pickleball keeps me moving, people are
very tolerant of my mistakes and the group couldn’t be
nicer.”
According to a 2012 study in the Archives of Internal
Medicine, loneliness is a contributing cause of “functional
decline and an increased risk of death among adults older
than 60.” George counts dozens of new friends. Many
joined together to celebrate his 97th birthday last March
donning t-shirts that read, “George, at 97, is our SUPER
HERO.”
And although George can’t “change the course of
mighty rivers” or “bend steel in his bare hands,” he is our
Superman—and like his t-shirt reads, pickleball is his
SUPERPOWER! •
“Pickleball keeps me moving, people
are very tolerant of my mistakes and
the group couldn’t be nicer.”
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019 |
MAGAZINE
29