Albert Kent Morton

A. Kent Morton was born in Barberton, Ohio, on August 15, 1944, to A. Sidney and Roberta Garton Morton. He spent his childhood in Wadsworth, Ohio; Greensboro, NC; Richmond, VA; and Concord, MA, where he attended junior high and high school, graduating from high school as co-valedictorian. During his high school years, Kent was active in Theater and the Debating Society and in various editorial roles for the school newspaper. He was an annual participant in school science fairs and was awarded First Prize in three of his four years.

In 1962, which was during the Cold War with Russia, Kent entered Amherst College. He continued to study math and science but eventually majored in Russian language because it was fun. And different. Graduating cum laude from Amherst, he entered a graduate program in Slavic Languages at Harvard and graduated with a Master’s degree. During his sophomore year at Amherst, Kent met Marilyn Long. He and Marilyn dated each other’s friends for three years, becoming friends themselves in the meantime. Their friendship became a romance that led to marriage in June 1968 and was the beginning of 58 years of happiness together. Together in 1975, they met our Lord and Savior and walked with him from that day forward. Kent would go on to be ordained and serve as a pastor for many years. Daughter Kateri was born in 1973, son Timothy in 1977, and daughters Bethany in 1981 and Faith in 1983.

After graduation from Harvard, Kent took a job at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, relating to the use of computers in language instruction, a topic of strong interest to Kent. Dartmouth was a pioneer in time-shared computing, and the position offered him access to a computer culture that was transforming the way education took place. Kent remained employed at Dartmouth for 41 years, advancing in the Office of Academic Computing, writing project proposals to the National Science Foundation and managing those that were funded. The most notable of the NSF projects was an eight-year effort that developed and published 25 computer-based articles and textbooks for college level courses. From 1978-88, Kent served as Executive Director of the Master of Science Program in Computer and Information Systems. He developed a broad range of supportive corporate partnerships while managing all non-academic aspects of the program (admissions, financial aid, etc.).

This experience developing partnerships with the business community led to Kent joining Dartmouth’s Office of Foundation and Corporate Relations, i.e. fundraising. He was named Director in 1994. In 2002, he was appointed Director of Campaign Projects and Reporting for an upcoming fundraising campaign involving 15+ building projects. This was his final position, until his retirement in 2010, and was well-suited to Kent’s organizational and planning skills, his penchant for detail, and his service orientation.

Kent went home to Jesus on May 27, 2026. Kent was a beloved son, brother, nephew, cousin, husband, father, uncle, and grandpa. Cherished and loved, he will forever be in our hearts and memories.

A Celebration of Life for Kent will be held on July 1, 2026, at Crossroads, 4170 E Amity Ave, Nampa, at 2:30 pm.