Ellis Kenten Reed

Our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather passed away at the home of his daughter on Wednesday, October 6, 2021; returning to his heavenly home and to his beloved wife, Beatrice, and many others he loved during his 95 years. Kenten was born the last of 10 children in the small mining town of Lark, Utah on February 16, 1926, at the home of his parents, Caroline Rindlisbacher and Henry “Harry” Reed. Kenten attended school and grew into a young man in Lark, living under very humble circumstances in which he learned to work at an early age, often being required to fulfill the work responsibilities of his ailing father. As a teenager he drove trucks for his oldest brother James, once getting himself into a dangerous predicament, from which he credited his Heavenly Father for having provided an escape with no injury to self or others.

With World War II raging, Kenten enlisted in the Army Air Corp at the age of 18 but was able to graduate from high school before being inducted the following August. For almost the entire two years he was in the service, Kenten was in training for one specialty or another. As the war was winding down, Kenten returned home on leave to attend LDS General Conference in Salt Lake City. Arriving home, he was informed that his father had died; so, in order that he could attend the funeral, the Army granted him an extended 10-day leave. Upon returning to his training in Denver he learned that his whole company had been dispatched to Germany as reinforcements. When Germany finally surrendered, Kenten was sent to Florida as a Finance Clerk – a specialty he credited for helping him decide on bookkeeping as his eventual profession. On June 21, 1946, after the war with Japan had ended, Kenten was discharged from the service in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Upon returning home to Lark, Kenten wrestled with the decision of what to do next with his life. With a suggestion from his bishop that he consider serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints, he decided to accept a call to serve, even though he hadn’t grown up thinking of serving a mission and didn’t feel as though he could bear, at that time, a firm testimony of the gospel. He received a call and went into the mission training center in Salt Lake City on October 23, 1946 and, after serving two years in Southern California, returned home with a strong testimony of the gospel which kept him a faithful disciple of Christ for the rest of his 95 years.

Home from his mission, Kenten decided that he had better get some schooling, so he enrolled in the Accounting Program at LDS Business College. As a student at the college, he was elected “charter president” of the Lambda Delta Sigma fraternity. While attending school and living in downtown Salt Lake City with his sister and her husband, Kenten attended the Latter-Day-Saint organization for young men and young women. It was at one of the young men/young women dances that he spotted, in a distant corner of the room, a young lady with brilliant red hair dressed in the prettiest blue suit. He asked her to dance and thus began a courtship which led to a proposal and then to marriage in the Salt Lake Temple on June 7, 1950 to that young lady, Beatrice Nellie Andersen.

This eternal union was blessed to include five daughters - Paula, Becky, Brenda, LuAnn and Michelle - and no boys, which was, incidentally, always more than okay with Kenten. He was proud of his family of girls and was always deeply concerned for them all, praying for them often. Service to their family and service in their church characterized Kenten and Beatrice and set a pattern followed by their girls as they grew into adulthood.
Beginning about 1986, after all of the girls were married, Beatrice began to have a series of significant health issues. Eventually, after years of devoted care from Kenten and the girls, Beatrice passed away on March 8, 2002. After Beatrice’s passing, Kenten was called to serve in the Jordan River Temple and while serving there he met Darlene McNeil, who had also lost her companion. They struck up a friendship that soon blossomed into a romance. Married on February 14, 2003, they shared a sweet companionship until she passed away in December 2020 after 17 years of marriage.

Kenten is survived by his five daughters, Paula (Carl) Sudbury, Becky (Terry) Atkinson, Brenda (Mike) Zeller, LuAnn (Brian) Dudley, Michelle (Dan) Greer; 21 grandchildren, 45 great grandchildren, many nieces and a nephew that all loved him and that he loved in return. He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers James, Floyd, Verl and Rodney; sisters Thelma, Lavina, Wanda, Dorothy and Phyllis; and wives, Beatrice Nellie Andersen and Darlene McNeil.

Funeral services will be held Monday, October 11, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. at the Aspen Hills Ward Chapel, 9855 South 2300 East, Sandy, Utah. Family and friends may call Sunday evening from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Larkin Sunset Gardens, 1950 East Dimple Dell Road (10600 South), Sandy, Utah, and Monday morning from 9:30-10:30 a.m. prior to the services at the church. Interment at Larkin Sunset Gardens. To share memory of Kenten or to watch the services online, please visit larkincares.com.

To watch the recorded services, please click on the blue "Watch Services" box above.

A special thanks to the hospice team, especially Brigitte and Natalie for their friendship and care for Kenten. Also, a sincere appreciation to the McNeil family for their continuing love and concern for Kenten.