Kent Leon Kepler of Utopia age 88, died October 19, 2025, hearing the love of family he adored, the poetry he studied, and the liturgy of the God and church he served.

He was born in 1937 to Glen and Lillian Kepler and lived an almost idyllic childhood in the tiny town of Big Springs, Nebraska, with his parents and younger sister, Alice. He was part of the local 4-H and Methodist Church and participated in all the sports and extra-curricular activities offered by his school. He overcame a stutter, repaired farm equipment during the summers, and attended the classical concert series sponsored by his father.

After high school, Kent attended Stanford University where he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Social Sciences with an emphasis in sociology and history. He participated in the local Methodist church as well as its on-campus fellowship, and the Stanford Band, where he played trumpet and sousaphone and was a member of the band fraternity Kappa Kappa Psi. He went on a mission trip to Alaska at the time it was becoming a state, and he took part in benevolent pranks, including a campaign to get a local rock-n-roll station to play a symphony on air. He nearly succeeded!

As a conscientious objector, Kent thought it was important to serve his country peacefully, so he spent the next two years working as a Methodist missionary in the dock area of Los Angeles. After that, he earned his first Master's Degree at Claremont School of Theology, Claremont, California. While there, he led the first integrated work camp at Henderson Settlement in Kentucky. He also co-wrote a satirical coloring book about the seminary's faculty and played table tennis. In the cafeteria one day, he looked up from a book just long enough to meet a fellow seminary student, Virginia. They fell in love, and after he proposed to her, he said, "You realize I've been married before," finally revealing that it had been a Tom Thumb wedding at age 4! They began a life of service together by going on their honeymoon to the Cal-Nevada Annual Conference of the Methodist Church. Kent was so unassuming, he didn't think to ask for the honeymoon suite on their wedding night!

After two years of campus ministry and a second Master's Degree in English at the University of Minnesota at St. Paul, Kent briefly left professional ministry.  For a few years, he pursued a Ph.D. in African-American Literature at the University of Texas at Austin. He taught at UT and at Southwestern in Georgetown while Virginia taught elementary school. His daughters, Cynthia and Catherine, were both born during that time. As they grew up, Kent took them to the library in every town where they lived, read to them at night, taught them songs in the car, and spent hours driving them to music lessons, academic meets, band and sports practices.  He never wished them "good luck" but always "good skill". His steady, even-keeled nature made him a safe person to talk with if there was trouble. In the midst of his PhD, when he had trouble finding a permanent teaching job, his Sunday School class at St. John's UMC in Austin suggested he consider returning to the job associated with his seminary degree. This launched him back into full-time, ordained ministry. He asked to be assigned only to smaller towns because he loved them and believed they deserved excellent clergy. Over the next 30 years, he served as pastor, associate pastor, or interim pastor at United Methodist churches in Del Rio, Brackettville, Hebbronville, Bruni, Mirando City, Odem, Bishop, Sonora, Menard, Eden, San Saba, Big Lake, Barnhart, Utopia, Devine, and Alice. His sermons drew on the Peanuts comic strip, the poetry of James Weldon Johnson, and many sources in between.

In each town, Kent became deeply involved in the community. He drove a water truck to help fight a fire in Menard. As part of the ministerial alliance in Sonora, he came up with a system for distributing holiday food baskets that lasted long after he left. In Odem, he stood up against censorship of the school's drama program. He served in the Lion's Club in multiple locations. After retirement, he served on Utopia's water board, spent many hours sorting recycling for Keep Utopia Beautiful, and shelled and sold pecans to help fund local charities and the construction of a chapel for the prison in Hondo.

While serving local churches, Kent also served the wider United Methodist Church. For many years, he served on the Board of Ordained Ministry. He mentored new clergy, helped them express their own theology, and made a safe space for clergy who espoused a wider understanding of God's love. In retirement, he threw himself into Kairos prison ministry, where he taught and lived the motto, "Listen, listen, love, love."

In his downtime, Kent enjoyed playing Trivial Pursuit and various card games. He watched Wheel of Fortune, college football, women's volleyball and women's basketball, especially if Stanford, Nebraska, or UT were playing. Until the pandemic, he sang in a local gospel band. Kent could also be found with a book or eight in hand, whether it was a collection of comic strips or Lord of the Rings. When he wasn't reading someone else's story, he would tell you one from his own life, whether it was the first or fiftieth time you'd heard it. We already miss the stories.

Kent is preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Alice Chambers. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Virginia Sue Stewart Kepler; daughters, Cynthia Kepler-Karrer (Clayton) and Catherine Kepler, and several nieces and nephews.

A private graveside service was held at Waresville Cemetery in Utopia. The family is currently planning a memorial service for the spring around Kent's March birthday, date and place to be announced before the end of the year.  Memorials may be made to www.kairostorres.org, Meals on Wheels, or a local charity.