Samuel Kent (“Slick”) Carpenter was born in Kanab, Utah, on June 19, 1919. He was the
third of five children born to Samuel James and Margaret Cutler Carpenter. Weighing nearly 13
pounds at birth, he was so large the attending physician decided it was necessary to sacrifice the
baby to save the mother and proceeded to fracture the not-so-tiny child’s skull. Showing a
resilience that would characterize much of his later life, Kent decided to live anyway. In his
amazement, the doctor failed to complete a birth certificate – an oversight that would lead to
some complications in later life when Kent tried to get a passport.
Kent married Ines Esplin from Orderville, Utah, on February 28, 1948, in Cedar City, Utah. Ines
had a son, Dennis LeRoy Crofts, from a previous marriage. Kent and Ines had two children,
Samuel Kay Carpenter (August 11, 1948) and Kerry Esplin Carpenter (December 3, 1949), both
of whom were born in Cedar City, Utah, but were raised mostly in Kanab.
In Kent’s youth, he spent much of his time with his father, Samuel James Carpenter, herding
sheep and cattle in and around southern Utah. He took his first real job at the young age of 10,
herding dairy cows during the summer for the “BAC” (Branch Agricultural College) in Cedar
City. He would gather the cattle after the morning milking and take them to pastures west of
town. He would tend them during the day and then, in the evening, would return them to the
milking barn. At age 14 he took a job in St. George, Utah, working in a service station for his
older brother and attended school in St. George.
Kent graduated from high school in Cedar City, Utah, and attended two years of college at the
BAC. He was working for Lunt Motor Co. in Cedar City in 1941 when, amid rumors of war in
Europe and Asia, he joined the military, enlisting in the newly formed Army Air Corps (which
later became the U.S. Air Force). He was on a troop ship sailing toward Hawaii on December 7,
1941, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, leading to the United States declaration of war. The
troops aboard Kent’s ship saw the attacking Japanese planes in flight, but had no idea what was
transpiring at their intended designation.
Kent served in the Army Air Corps from 1941 until 1945, being discharged shortly after the end
of WW II. He was a skilled “tool and die maker” (machinist), stationed primarily in Australia,
on the island of Morotai (Indonesia) and in other remote locations in the South Pacific and
Philippines where airstrips could be maintained close to the active war zones. As a Tech
Sergeant, Kent supervised a machine shop charged with building parts to repair battle-damaged
aircraft in order to keep them in the air. The planes they couldn’t repair were taxied into the sea
to make room for others that could be patched up and put back into action.
Still a stalwart patriot, Kent is very proud to have served his country and can give detailed
accounts of his WW II military experiences, including several events in which he narrowly
avoided becoming one of the many casualties of that terrible war.
After five years in the military, Kent returned to southern Utah where he married, started a
family, and spent most of his working life selling automobiles for Lunt Motor Co. Initially
working from Cedar City, his customers were mostly the residents of southern Utah, northern
Arizona and southeastern Nevada. He managed a satellite dealership in Kanab from 1945 until
1955 when, to reduce his time on the road and away from his growing family, he moved his
family from Cedar City to Kanab. He worked from Kanab until his retirement in 1981, making
innumerable friends and loyal customers over a large area.
During this time he also set up and managed another satellite dealership in Page, Arizona,
providing automobiles to the booming populations in Page, Arizona, and Glen Canyon City (now
“Big Water”), Utah, associated with the construction and operation of the Glen Canyon bridge
and dam and Lake Powell.
Although Kent was never in the cattle business himself, he always sported a cowboy hat and
western attire. Much of his business was getting those tough “job-rated” Dodge trucks to the
farmers and cattle ranchers throughout southern Utah and northern Arizona, including many
customers on the Navajo Reservation around Page and the Cedar Ridge Trading Post in northern
Arizona.
Despite the need for him to spend a lot of time on the road, Kent was always active in Kanab
community activities, organizations (Lions Club, American Legion and Order of Elks) and
political leadership. He served a four-year term as the mayor of Kanab (1971-74) and served
eight years (1963 to 1970) on the Kane County School Board, four years as president.
Kent was a prime mover and one of the early presidents of the Tri-City Little League baseball
program. In 1958, Kent, along with Bud Button from Fredonia and Joe Caruso from Orderville,
attended meetings in Cedar City with representatives of the Little League organization. With the
leadership of Bud, Joe and Kent, and with the help of local service groups such as the Lions Club
and Jaycees, Little League Baseball was brought to the local area as the “Tri-City District.” This
district provided sports facilities and activities to youth from Kanab, Fredonia (including
residents of Moccasin and youth of the Paiute Tribe) and Long Valley (including Mt. Carmel,
Glendale, Orderville and Alton). Kent coached one of the two Kanab teams for the first two
years of its organization.
In 1960, while serving as president of the Kanab Lions Club, Kent was instrumental in bringing
the first television signals into the Kanab/Fredonia communities. Through the efforts of many
local supporters, a power line was constructed to the top of Moccasin Mountain. There were no
support poles from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the valley floor and the line sagged
badly, but didn’t touch the ground in the over-a-mile-long descent. This line provided power to a
receiver and transmitter that received the signal from Las Vegas, Nevada, on Moccasin
Mountain, and sent it on to the TV towers located atop the Vermillion Cliffs north of Kanab.
The towers delivered the signal to Kanab and Fredonia areas via roof-top antennas. To help
finance the service, Lions Club officers and members would go door-to-door, asking anyone
with an antenna on their roof to pay a few bucks per month. He still talks about the long hikes
and struggles to get the power line in place and to keep all the “high-tech” equipment up and
running. He also recalls a few citizens who put the antennas in their attics to avoid being asked
to help pay for the service.
After retiring from his working career, Kent and Ines spent five years traveling with a trailer and
small boat, fishing and enjoying lakes, campgrounds and trailer spaces in Utah, Arizona and
Nevada. After five years, though, they agreed that they liked being home a lot more than all the
driving and trailer parks.
Kent has been an avid hunter of deer and firewood most of his life (although Ines got tired of the
mess and ashes and he had to just give the firewood away for a while). He has a great love and
knowledge of the beautiful areas of southern Utah. He feels blessed and is pleased to have been
able to live in the Kanab area nearly all of his life and to have contributed to the success and
improvement of this place he calls home.
[Bio prepared for presentation as part of Kanab’s “Western Legends Festival” on 17 August
2012.]