Mary Adele (Gant) Zent |
| Posted 2013-02-04 by Pat Wilson |
| Mary Adele Zent was peacefully called home by her Savior early Sunday morning, the day before her 87th birthday on March 11, 2012. Adele was born March 12, 1925 in Wray, Colo. She was the oldest of three children born to Leroy Gant and Lorena Stewart Gant. Her younger sister was Dorothy Ardell and her little brother Richard Patrick. Adele's father died when she was ten and the little family moved to Aurora, Colorado and then to Miami, Florida where Adele started the sixth grade. She graduated from Miami High in 1943 and always said that her whole graduating class marched off to war. She attended Florida State College for Women, now Florida State University in Tallahassee for two years before marrying handsome Army gunner Alfred Reese Zent on June 10, 1945. The young couple moved west to Tucson, Ariz., to start college under the GI bill and where their first son, Michael Robert was born in 1947. Her husband was called back to service with the Army during the Berlin Blockade. Their second son, Ronald Alan was born just days after his dad left for duty. She and the children joined him later that year making the transatlantic trip on a military dependant ship. They returned to the US in 1953 shortly before their third son, Gary Randolph was born in the military hospital in Jacksonville, Fla. When they finally left the armed services they relocated back to Tempe, Arizona where Adele finished her Bachelor's degree and eventually her Master's in English at Arizona State University. Her daughter, Ellen was born in 1959 and the family moved to Casa Grande, Ariz., for several years. Adele moved to Escondido, Calif., in 1967 following her divorce and started teaching second grade at Lincoln Elementary School for seven years. She loved the people at Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church where she attended for 15 years and sang in the choir. She belonged to American Association for University Women for years and played in their Bridge Club. Her hobbies included sewing, genealogy, handicapping horses, gourmet cooking and jam making. She was an ardent listener to Pastor Dr. Jeremiah's sermons and the Turning Point Ministry. She was an avid game player and delighted in engaging and interacting with her family. She is survived by her brother, four children, ten grandchildren and seven great-grandsons. Adele suffered with a rare autoimmune disease called Scleroderma and she most likely lived with this chronic illness longer than anyone on record. Donations, in her memory, to: www.Scleroderma.org. Services will be held at First Congregational Church, 1800 N. Broadway in Escondido on Saturday, March 17. There will be a brief viewing at the church one hour before the service. Adele will be laid to rest at Bluebonnet Hills in Colleyville, Texas, where her mother and sister are also buried. |
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