Dene Kent Brower

He was born on the family farm 5 miles N.E. of Iola on January 24, 1926 the son of Delmer I and Ruby Mable Wynn Brower. He attended the Deer Creek grade school and Iola High School graduating in May 1944 and was then drafted into the Army where he spent the next 26 months and served in Europe with the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions and was discharged in August 1946. He attended the Railroad Communications School in Kansas City, Missouri in 1949 and spend the next 5 years in Colorado as an Agent-Telegraph Operator with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Leaving there in the fall of 1954 he returned to Kansas City and was employed with the Post Office as a letter carrier where he spent the next 28.5 years at the Westport and Plaza stations, retiring in December 1963 and was a member of the N.A.L.C. for over 50 years. He married Karen Phillips of Kansas City on May 26, 1963. They were divorced in June 1983 and he returned to the farm where his parents still lived. On April 23rd, 1989 he married Carol B Adams Bishop of Iola at the Carlyle Presbyterian Church where he had been a member of the "Cradle Club" in 1927 and later joined the Church in 1936. He was a member of the American Legion Post 15 of Iola since joining in 1989.

He was preceded in death by his parents, sister in law Norma Brower of Topeka and brother Clearance Brower.

Dene is survived by his son Michael Brower and grandson Andrew of Kansas City North and daughter Beverly Gibson and granddaughter Ariel also of Kansas City North; stepson Barry Bishop and wife Cyndee and family of Kearney, Missouri; stepdaughter Susan Hall and husband Tim of Shawnee, Kansas; and his cat Buddy.

Dene's ashes will be inurned at Highland Cemetery in Iola, Kansas.

The family would like to thank hospice and loved ones for their care and support over the past few months.

Memorials may be made to the Carlyle Presbyterian Church at 15 Covert Rd, Iola, Kansas 66749 (620) 365-6513