Josephine Mary Dent

Josephine “Jo” Dent was born on March 5, 1918, in Fried, (pronounced “freed”) North Dakota to Rose Kulink. She was 103 years old when she passed. Jo was the middle of 6 siblings. She worked hard on the family farm, and obviously, she experienced her fair share of struggle. She didn’t have much of a childhood. She overlapped the Great Depression. She milked the cows. She did a lot of the cooking. She did say that she had a pet turkey on the farm that would follow her all over. She was a private person and never talked that much about this time in her life. She never complained.

In the early 1940s, she married Edwin Dent. They moved first to Minnesota to follow Ralph and Margaret Ruby, their close friends. Marilynn and Charlotte both were born in North Dakota, but they soon moved out to the Seattle area seeking a better life. Edwin worked at a car shop in Renton. And Jo worked at the Rainbow Restaurant before starting to work at Boeing on the assembly line. She ended up retiring from Boeing and was proud of her 25 years of perfect attendance!

The first thing we can say about Jo is that she was always working. Her work ethic was epic. She lived a pretty quiet life, a simple life. She wasn’t fond of drama.

She liked to joke. And she liked to tease. It didn’t matter who it was, she might play a joke on you. She was always having fun. One of the jokes that her grandkids will remember well, was that they would often walk up to town, crossing the Cedar River and the kids would just scoop stuff up - grab sticks and things, to throw in the river. Well one time, Jo declared, “Hey there’s a stick!” And before anyone knew it, a child grabbed a dog-turd.

She would play jokes at work too. She just liked to laugh and have fun.

At the nursing home, she loved Bingo. She valued her Bingo bucks. She also loved Word search books. She liked to solve the puzzle of finding words within the jumbled-up different letters. She loved to solve those problems. She liked TV game shows. In particular, the “Price is Right”

In addition, she loved wrestling! She would be watching wrestling on TV and yelling…maybe cussing out one of the wrestlers for doing what they were doing.

Every Sunday she cooked a big meal for the family - her grandkids, of course, and invite others too, like some of Marilynn’s brothers-in-law. She made delicious homemade pies. Cinnamon rolls. Breads. Buns. Marilynn and Charlotte, when they were younger, would race to see who could get to the kitchen first in order to get at the gooiest part of the freshly cooked cinnamon rolls. Uncle Ray, Edwin’s brother, when asked, “What kind of Jo’s pie would you like?” Answered…”Oh, give me a little of each.” She was the host - really for all the family gatherings. And if you weren’t there on time, she would call you and find out what time it was going to be when you got there. She could be a stickler.

Speaking of Jo and the telephone, everyone knew that if you called her, she was ready to get off the phone about as fast as she got on it. It might be “Yes, Hello…then goodbye.” She didn’t like talking on the phone much.

Jo was a generous person. She would do anything for anyone. And she would give gifts, but if you gave her a gift, it might very well end up back with you! She couldn’t help herself being generous.

Everyone at the Nursing Home liked her. Everyone said “Your mom is so sweet” and she never gave anyone any trouble. She was, in a word, immensely “likable”. One time when she was eating, one of the aides asked her if she wanted anything to drink, to which she replied, “Yes, I want a beer”.

She could be sassy and a spitfire. A downright pistol. She was joking up till the evening that she passed away. Marilynn had been visiting her and had just left the nursing home. And had not been home for more than five minutes when she got the call from the nursing home saying that she had passed. Marilynn couldn’t really believe it, because she had just spent the time with Jo tucking her in. Jo had to have the blanket be perfect, and Marilynn kept adjusting it. Jo kept complaining it wasn’t tucked in just right and so Marilynn said, “You are grumpy!” To which Jo said, “No, I’m an asshole!”

Christine looked at her and stuck out her tongue at her Grandma - they always teased each other this way - and Jo’s response was “STOP THAT!” They all began to laugh! She had a sense of humor to the end.

Jo’s life was all about her family. Her own mother moved to Renton to be close to Jo. She was so proud of her grandkids. She liked cats - the orange-colored cats = tabbies In Marilynn’s words, she “was the best mom ever!”

Jo Dent passed on March 13, 2021, at 6:15. She was 103 old.

She was preceded in death by her daughter Charlotte, and her husband, Edwin.

She leaves behind to mourn her loss, her daughter Marilynn, and her 6 grandchildren: Christine, JD,

Lynnette, Jodine, Eddie, and Richey.

She leaves her love and legacy in her 7 Great-grandchildren: Kelsey, Danika, Dennis, Kayla,

Emily, Alina, and Nathan.

Jo will be remembered as a woman who will be with us always. She will always be in our thoughts, and forever in our hearts.