Dorothy Kent Cook left this world on May 23, 2017, as she entered it: with a determined fight and sheer will to survive. She was born on January 1, 1927, to Clela Whitehead and Eugene Martin Kent. Dorothy overcame incredible illnesses in her first year of life: whooping cough, measles and bronchial pneumonia. Two doctors gave up on her and said there was nothing more they could do to save her. Dr. Williams picked up the battle and came to see her every day. She lived all of her 90 years with that same determined fight and sheer will. After conquering the illnesses, she was baptized with water from the river Jordan.

In 1944 she graduated from Boonville High School and became active in her adult years with the alumni society. She attended almost every reunion and opened her home to her class alumni who returned for the gatherings. It was one of the highlights of every year.

Dorothy earned a scholarship to Purdue University in aeronautical engineering and attended for the first year. At the end of the war, she returned to the University of Missouri and graduated with a degree in accounting, following in her father’s footsteps. She took over her father’s clients and was self-employed from 1948-1964. In 1964 she joined the accounting firm of Paul Holland Darby, CPA. She retired from the Kenny L Farris, CPA office in 1999.

She met Lloyd, her husband of almost 67 years at a Halloween party at the VFW in 1949. On Christmas Eve of that year they were engaged and married on June 11, 1950. They spent their honeymoon in West Palm Beach, Florida searching for the latest tunes in the record stores.

With numbers being a strong suit for Dorothy, bridge was a favorite pastime. In 1956, a group of eight Boonville women formed a home bridge club. Every month they played. The group still plays and some of them made trips to Kansas City to lunch and play bridge with Dorothy. She continued to find challenges at the bridge table in her residences in Kansas City and cherished the hobby and the ladies that shared her passion throughout her life.

She belonged to organizations in the Boonville community and served as an officer for many: past president of AAUW, past treasurer of Boonville Women’s Club, past treasurer of United Methodist Women, past financial chairman of Nelson Memorial United Methodist Church, past president of the Boonville High School Alumni Association, and past matron of the Order of the Eastern Star where she has been a member since 1946.

In her retirement years, she spent a lot of time with grandchildren and great grandchildren, the loves of her life. She also started mentoring with Kids’ Hope USA through the Nelson Memorial Methodist Church. She shared with her family and friends many success stories from the seven children she mentored.

Dorothy was well-traveled visiting nine countries and many states. She traveled with groups, friends and family and felt blessed to have so many people around her.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother and sister in law, Gene and Bette Kent. She is survived by her husband Lloyd, her children: Susanne Kissane, Greg Cook (Karen), Marcia Cook, and Warren Cook (Kerrie), three grandchildren, Zach Kissane (Amelia), Gabby Lindsey (Matt), Alyssa Cook, two great-grandchildren Eleanor and Lincoln Lindsey, her niece Marty Dauer, great niece Jill Hartman (Chris), great nephew Gabe Dauer, cousins Ruth Kent and Bob Kent and four granddogs and two grandcats.

Services will be July 15, 2017 at 11 a.m. with visitation at 10 a.m. at the Nelson Memorial United Methodist Church in Boonville and private burial in Mexico, MO. In lieu of flowers please send donations to Kansas City Hospice Foundation, 1500 Meadow Lake Parkway, Suite 200, Kansas City, MO 64114 or online at http://www.kchospice.org/donate-now/