John "Jack" George Kent

for a man who achieved a great legacy. His father George worked as a farmhand and moved

his growing family from farm to farm to support them during the constant dismay of the Great

Depression.

When Jack was 10, his mother moved with her 4 children to Bozeman, Montana in search of

work. They lived in a boxcar that was refurbished into a house. His love of “the horse” sprang

from this experience when he was 10 years old and his first employer gave him a horse he

called “Flicka”.

Jack claims he became a “bit of a hooligan” during this time so his exasperated mother sent him

back to South Dakota to live with his uncle Rudy and work on the ranch. He attended 7th and

8th grade in a one room schoolhouse five miles from his home. When he was 13, he moved to

Rapid City to live with his father and began his lifelong work in moving the earth.

Jack petitioned his Mother at age 17 to join the Navy at a time when the Korean war was just

beginning. He sailed the Pacific on a destroyer escort, supplying shore power to Japanese and

Korean ports. Upon returning from the war, he found himself back in the Dakotas working for

Roth Construction and later for Wilbur Construction from early 1950’s to 1969. Jack had saved

his Navy stipend and bought his first great car, a 1953 Belair convertible. Given his pursuits at

that time, he added the most appropriate mud flap that said “Don’t cry girls, I’ll be back”!

During this time, he married Mary Muth and together they had three daughters and a son-

Debbie, Susie, Kelly, and Kathleen. The young family moved to numerous construction jobs

across four states. When the dam or highway was completed, they would hook up the trailer

and Jack’s horse trailer and travel to the next job. Upon arrival the trailers, bunkhouse and cook

shack would circle and a community would be set up for the next project. A strong bond was

formed between the young families.

During these years Jack learned from “the Best”. He moved up quickly and was “Doing it His

Way” before long.

At one time he needed to get a fleet of large equipment from Wyoming to Arizona. Unable to

use the highway system, he devised a route across ranches and reservations. A fence crew

went out ahead to take down and replace the fences as the fleet travelled. Jack would round up

local men to keep equipment secure overnight by tearing a $100 bill in half. If equipment was

intact in the morning, Jack produced the other half. Imagine seeing a fleet of scrapers,

bulldozers, motor graders, water trucks and so on creeping across the horizon in the middle of

nowhere!

It was during this time that Floyd Baker, Jim Jurczewsky, and John Bernard joined Jack in the

construction business. Among many other long term devoted employees - each of these three

gentlemen gave Jack more than 50 years of service. Few people have earned this degree of

loyalty. Every person who worked for Jack, came away with a better understanding of work.

In 1968 Jack married Bonnie Hafer and the following year, he moved to Castle Rock and started

TriCon Kent construction company. The company grew to one of the largest earth moving

companies in this part of the country. TriCon Kent had a footprint in five states, building dams,

housing developments, roads ,interstates and golf courses. You can see his work at Highlands

Ranch, Castle Pines and Plum Creek housing development. Jack’s footprint can be found on

the Colorado Springs airport as well as parts of DIA. He also developed expertise with golf

courses and built nearly every golf course in Colorado including The Sanctuary and Castle

Pines to name just a few. Jack was most proud of the large sections of interstates he built. You

have undoubtedly driven on roads and played on golf courses that Jack built! He was

considered a premier road builder and was awarded the Pioneer Award by the Colorado

Contractors Association.

With so many projects to supervise, Jack obtained his pilot’s license and flew his plane to the

work sites. His evenings were spent with his sketch pad - reinventing equipment to enhance

production! Much of the equipment you see on earth moving projects today, Jack Kent had a

hand in inventing or improving many of the pieces it took to efficiently complete the jobs.

In 1990, Bob and Molly Heir introduced their long time friends, Jack & Cinda who married in

1998. One of Jack and Cinda’s first adventures was to find a route from Colorado to his

childhood home in South Dakota driving only on roads Jack had built!

In 1997 Jack and Cinda discovered a ranch in southeast Colorado along the Arkansas River

and began his lifelong dream of owning a horse ranch. Twenty years were spent renovating a

tired old rundown cattle ranch into a gem. Jack approached this project with the same fierce

determination to develop his horse operation as he had in building roads. He loved animals and

was intent on developing his herd of paint horses into something special. His goal was to create

the finest horse and Distinctively Dixon became just that by becoming a 2-time World Champion

Performance Horse. His prize saddles and buckles were evidence that he succeeded in that

endeavor. Beautiful horses running freely in the pastures around his home were a constant

reminder of his dream. His ranch, TIAGO Ranch which stood for “This is a Good Outfit”

eventually became premier hunting property.

Health reasons brought Jack & Cinda back to Franktown in 2014. Once again, they took an

1890’s dairy barn on a beautiful property and turned it into a “slice of Heaven” where Jack

re-connected with The Lord in his final months with the guidance of his son-in-law, Shane

Bauman.

Jack is preceded in death by his Mother and Father, two brothers and one sister. He is survived

by his wife, Cinda, children Debbie Ramsour (John), Susie Dohman, Kelly (Jonie) Kent,

Kathleen (Gary) Guinn, Jenni (Shane) Bauman, Kresta Lancaster, 15 grandchildren, 14

great-grandchildren, one sister, nieces, and a nephew.

Contributions to the Spina Bifida Foundation and Autism Awareness will be appreciated.

Olinger Andrews Chapel of Castle Rock is in care of arrangements. www.olingerandrews.com

Services will be held at 1:00 PM on Saturday, November 21, 2020 at The Rock, a

Non-denominational church at 4881 Cherokee Drive, Castle Rock, Colorado. Masks are

required with social distancing available.

Please Note: The option to livestream the service will be available at "Therock.org/live"