<strong>Who:</strong> Elaine Johnson Kent, formerly of Kansas City</p><p><strong>Age: </strong>75</p><p><strong>When and how she died:</strong> Sept. 30 of colon cancer</p><p><strong>A life of adventure: </strong>Kent grew up in Mount Carmel, Ill., a small town on the Wabash River. Her father was the president of the local savings and loan.</p><p>Kent&rsquo;s upbringing was completely conventional, said her sister Jane Jones of Denver, but Kent&rsquo;s parents also supported her independent nature. She majored in music at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill., but eventually married her high school sweetheart, a fighter pilot. The two followed his career all over the world.</p><p>More than a decade older than her two siblings, Kent played the part of the exotic relative who would send home strange gifts, such as a camel saddle, ivory statues and luxurious shawls. Jones said that their mother once received a big leather object and instructions to fill it with wood chips. It turned out to be an ottoman.</p><p>Kent eventually divorced and returned to the United States, settling in Boston, where she worked as an assistant for a prominent medical researcher. Jones and her parents and brother often drove to see &ldquo;Sissie,&rdquo; who introduced them to exotic foods such as avocadoes and artichokes, which weren&rsquo;t readily available in southern Illinois.</p><p>&ldquo;She was the one who taught me to try things,&rdquo; Jones said of her sister.</p><p><strong>Entertaining and parenting: </strong>In Boston, Kent met her second husband, David Kent, who worked in management for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Kent would move again, to Providence, R.I., Hartford, Conn., Denver and Miami before landing in Kansas City, where David Kent became manager of the Kansas City Symphony.</p><p>Elaine Kent found a job with the Midwest Research Institute, but she also focused on her children, Stephanie and Rich, and her role as a symphony manager&rsquo;s wife. Her home was gracious and welcoming.</p><p>&ldquo;Anytime you entered her house, she made you feel comfortable,&rdquo; said Frances Thomas of Lee&rsquo;s Summit, who knew Kent through her daughter.</p><p>Kent allowed her children autonomy, Stephanie Kent said. She wanted them to figure out who they were on their own. </p><p>When the family lived in Denver, the kids liked to ski, Rich Kent said. A childhood back injury prevented Elaine Kent from taking to the slopes, so she read in the lodge while her children cavorted outside. Her children said it was Kent&rsquo;s way to find something positive in every situation.</p><p>&ldquo;She put things in perspective,&rdquo; said Rich Kent, who lives in Kansas City. &ldquo;She had an ability to know that life was too short not to be happy.&rdquo;</p><p><strong>Finding her niche: </strong>In the late 1980s, with her second marriage breaking up, Elaine Kent moved with her daughter to Albuquerque, N.M. Within months, though, Stephanie Kent&rsquo;s job fell through, and she left, but her mother stayed.</p><p>Elaine Kent loved New Mexico&rsquo;s climate, the landscape and the people. She became part of the fabric of the Southwest, joining the New Mexico Women&rsquo;s Chorus and finding companionship. She stayed about 20 years, about as long as she had lived anywhere.</p><p>Kent would be there now if she hadn&rsquo;t gotten sick, her children said. Last June, doctors found colon cancer and blocked carotid arteries. Kent resisted leaving Albuquerque until late September, when she moved Amherst, Mass., to live with her daughter.</p><p>Stephanie Kent thought she would have her mother around for a few months, but within 10 days, Elaine Kent died. It was quick, but her family suspects Elaine Kent knew that it would be. </p><p>&ldquo;She was fiercely independent and really didn&rsquo;t want to impose,&rdquo; Stephanie Kent said.</p><p><strong>Survivors include: </strong>A daughter, a son, a grandson; a brother, a sister and several nieces and nephews.</p><p><strong>The last word: </strong>In the end, Kent found she had to rely on others, which was a gift in itself, her children said. Her illness brought them back into close contact with one another and with Kent&rsquo;s siblings.</p><p>&ldquo;She left us a legacy of being together,&rdquo; Stephanie Kent said.