Kent Randal Nelson

Kent Randal Nelson was born on October 7, 1951 to Rees and Fern Nelson. He grew up in Santaquin Utah, and lived there most of his life of 72 years. 

He grew up loving baseball, basketball, camping, fishing, hunting, and the great outdoors. He helped with the family business of Pitt’s Drive In where they sold hamburgers, fries, and strawberry malts. He served a LDS mission in the Montana, Wyoming Northwest Mission. He married Janet Beckstead on July 19, 1974 in the Provo Utah Temple. They had six children - Shelly, Matthew, Joshua, Andrew, Nathanial, and Jenifer. They made lots of fun memories playing baseball, gardening, driving around on the tractor and grandpa's motorcycle, going fishing, playing got you last with tinfoil balls or stinky sock balls, shooting skeet on Thanksgiving, sleeping in the dump truck, camping up Santaquin Canyon, swimming at warm springs, renting a VCR and Disney videos from Adventureland Video and the Video Hut, and going to Yellowstone National Park several times together. They later divorced. Later in life he married Jennifer Avery. Together they went to a Chicago Cubs baseball game which was a lifelong dream. He also played baseball in the Senior Olympics where he blew everyone away with his home runs. 

He had a stroke and spent his last few years at Parkway Care Center in Payson where he was quite a character playing jokes on people, giving lots of raspberries, and running away in a wheelchair with one hand uphill to Peteetneet. Thank you to all those at Parkway who took part in his care and made his last years comfortable and enjoyable. 

He is preceded in death by Rees and Fern Nelson (mom and dad), Dave and Madge Nelson (brother and sister-in-law), Nathanial Rees Nelson and Andrew William Nelson (sons). He is survived by Jerry (Linda) Nelson, Dale (Clarice) Nelson, Vickie (Larry) Aragon, Janet Nelson, Lisa (Dave) Fluke, Shelly (Chris) Gravett, Matthew (Lei) Nelson, Joshua Nelson, Jenifer (Steve) Erikson, Amber Erikson, Ruth and Jim Johnson, and 22 grandchildren, and 1 great-granddaughter. 

Funeral services will be held Monday September 23, 2024 at 11:00 am at the Santaquin LDS Church building, 345 West 100 North Santaquin, Utah. Viewings will be Sunday September 22nd from 6:00 -7:00 pm at Brown Family Mortuary, 66 South 300 East and Monday from 10:00 -10:45 am at the church prior to services. Interment to follow at Santaquin City Cemetery.