Kent Howard Elliott, a longtime county resident, died August 26. Kent was born May 17, 1947 in Blue Island, Illinois, the son of Franklin R. and Geraldine B. “Gerry” (Anderson) Elliott. He grew up in Illinois until the family moved to Walla Walla, Washington and later to Billings, Montana where he graduated from Billings West High School. Kent later graduated from Pacific University after a time as a VISTA volunteer in North Carolina.
Working at what was then Boulder River School and Hospital in Boulder as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, he met the love of his life, Barbara Morgan, and they married on August 31, 1974. Their first two daughters, Sarah and Heather, were born while Kent and Barbara continued to work at Boulder, where Kent took on managerial roles.
They lived in Minnesota while Kent attended United Theological Seminary, later returning to Montana where Kent served churches of the United Church of Christ in Baker, where their third daughter, Hannah, was born, and in Miles City.