Meet Kent: TNMPeople

Meet Kent

Patient on the water & on the ground

Patience and experience don't always go hand-in-hand. When they do, however, things can turn out well.

Kent is a fine example, whether he's reeling bass into his boat or mentoring TNMP line crew members from our Pilot Point office.

On the water

Kent enjoyed river fishing in his youth in Iowa before moving to Texas in his early 20s to work for TNMP. At work he found fishermen, including a colleague named Rick, who turned him onto bass fishing.

"Rick and I started fishing at Possum Kingdom Lake," Kent says. "Rick taught me how to cast with a baitcasting reel."

Kent found time on the boat much to his liking. For many years, he's been taking his boat for regular weekend getaways, and for competitive tournaments with his son, Kyle.

"I love to fish," he says. "I like the fishing here and all the reservoirs. It's a really good challenge in the competitions. My son loves those."

On the ground

Kent knew as a teenager that he wanted to be a power company lineman, inspired by his parents' friend who was a lineman.

"He'd bring his truck, with transformers and everything in the back, into my grandfather's Conoco station," Kent recalls. "We'd wash it and change the oil. He climbed poles for a living, and I knew I wanted to do that."

Kent's a foreman now, meaning he spends a lot of time looking up from the ground, watching crew members work and ensuring jobs are completed safely and correctly.

Mentoring less experienced apprentices and linemen requires something that works well for fishermen, too.

"It takes patience," he says. "I've got all these men and I'm training them. My patience and communication had to increase tremendously."