Kent Whipple
Departed  April 12, 2000

Click HERE to view a newspaper article about Kent's passing

As everyone knows, Kent was one of the most talented people we would ever meet.  Just look at our yearbook!  So unique with his caricatures and drawings.  His art stands out even today. He was also extremely witty and clever.  He made me laugh hysterically.  We took Biology  together and regularly got into trouble for talking when we should have been listening!  Kent sat in front of me and was my lab partner.  No pig ever received a more irreverent dissection! Over cadavers and formaldehyde, we became good friends.  We vowed to keep it a secret! (Why? We thought our respective boy/girl friends would not understand).
I spoke with Kent many years ago as the 30th reunion was approaching.  We laughed again as we recalled those times.  I reminded him of his parting "gift" to me...  He solemnly asked for my yearbook to sign.  He kept it for a number of minutes, and I was touched by his apparent need to write a heartfelt goodbye.  I waited until I was home to get my first look at his ode to our friendship, only to discover that he had meticulously gone through the pages and penned fond "love-notes" to me from various guys throughout the book, most of whom I had never met!  Each clearly displayed his humor and, again, his irreverence.  What a hoot!  I cherish every entry!  Whatever happens in the afterlife, Kent is surely making them laugh and sketching them as he goes.  What a gem he was.  

Memories of Kent Whipple
by Kathy Pierce

Thank you Patrick Gaines for providing us with the link to the article about Kent. I had heard he died, but it was a bit of a mystery, since he had moved to Atlanta and I no longer lived near his family.

Before the last reunion, I called him and pleaded with him to join us at our 30th. I pleaded with a lot of you all, had much better success with others. Right, John…Mark? Kent was one of the holdouts, I couldn’t convince him to join us. Boy did I try!! What an addition he would have been to our trip down Memory Lane, he was such a big part of our high school experience. Gorgeous and fun, talented and smart, he had it all.

I lived about 5 houses away from Kent, on Iroquois Avenue in Melrose Park, since my family moved to Ft Lauderdale in 1959. My older brother was friends with Kent’s brother Bruce, so we would hang out at the Whipples’ or they would be at our house practically every day in elementary and Jr High. I was the 5^th grade Amazon, 5’6”tall, taller than all the girls and most of the boys and even the teachers at Westwood Heights!  (Or so it seemed to me.)  Kent was my ego’s savior, as he finally grew taller than me, so I didn’t feel like such a freak anymore. Thank you Kent. He and I are in the back row in all the Westwood Heights group photos, I was so happy to have a friend in the back.

In 5^th and 6^th grade we were ‘an item,’ (as much as 5^th and 6^th graders can be items.) His mother or mine would drive us to the Plaza Club dances, which we went to together for several years. Anyone remember the Plaza Club? And the sweet dances they had for kids?   He was brutal, making fun of my every move, word, thought. That sense of humor! He was light years ahead of me, most of us…..I have a collection of his drawings from 5^th grade on, all thru high school. Not just drawings, but elaborate movie posters, cartoons, and portraits, all poking fun, as only Kent could get away with.

By the time Parkway rolled around, there were lots of tall boys to choose from, so I had a crush on a different guy every week. And Kent had crushes too, which became the subject of the never-ending drawings. I’ve saved the drawings all these years…they are yellowed and frayed, but still too special to me to discard.

I lost track of Kent after high school. I would love to hear from folks who could help fill in the blanks of his life. Betsi Chilton told me she saw him acting in a local soap opera in Atlanta, but that may be the last info I heard. Maybe some of you will post Kent sightings from after 1967.

We are sorry you won’t be with us at our 40^th, Kent, but you will be with us in spirit and in our hearts, and in our delightful memories of you.

Submitted by Kathy Pierce 7/19/07