About Kent
I was born in Norwood, MA 1954. When I was 3 or 4 yrs old my father and mother moved us to Boca Raton, FL. My parents were hired to work at The Boca Raton Hotel and Club. Boca was a military base during the last war. When we moved to Boca, there was a long airstrip (FAU), city hall, a liquor store, A&W drive-in, and some old military baracks converted into apartments. That’s where we lived. We were only a minute or two from the Boca Inlet. Our family would go to the beach there, and it is where I fell in love with the water and fishing. On the North side of the inlet was a coastguard station and just South of the inlet was a cabana club owned by the hotel. That was it. No condo’s, traffic lights, or crowds….just a lot of seagrapes. You could go to the beach anywhere you wanted….just pull off to the side of the road!
Freddy Huggins, our neighbor, invited me fishing one day. He couldn’t have known at the time what he was getting himself into. The only time he ever got to go fishing alone again is if he snuck away. After a couple of years, my parents bought there first home. We moved a little South to Deerfield. In our new neighborhood, everybody knew everybody. Kids rode there bikes, went trick or treating, built forts in the woods and drank out of the hose if they were thirsty. I went to Deerfield Elementry and played baseball. There were probably 10 kids in my neighbor hood that played in the same little league program. In my little league day, you had to try out for a team….and everyone didn’t make it.
We went to the beach a lot, and in Deerfield there was the pier. I would from this time on until I was out of highschool and married spend more time at the Deerfield Pier than any place in my life. I spent every minute I could on the pier. Some of my best friends to this day are the guys I grew up with doing the same thing. When I was 10 we moved to the Cove in Deerfield, a little closer to the beach. I started the 5th grade at St. Ambrose, a new Catholic Church and School, where we were members. Education and religion were always very important to my parents. I was an altar boy at St. Ambrose, and would serve mass for the pastor every day at 7am. I even recieved the “Serria Award” from the bishop twice, for saying all of the prayers in Latin. I could speak every word.
We lived lived in our house in The Cove for the rest of my youth untill I was 17. I worked at the local tackle stores throughout high school….HillsboroTtackle (which I later purchased) and Boca Tackle. When I wasn’t working at a tackle store, I was caddying at the Boca Raton Hotel during the day and valet parking cars at night. I was married at 19. Three days after my 20th birthday, I was hired by the Boca Raton Fire Department. It was the best job in the world….I grew up there. Afer a short time on the job I was attracted to the rescue side. The city sent me to Miami Dade CC to be a para-medic. While working as a firefighter, I opperated everything from EMS vehicles, ariel ladder trucks, brush trucks, and heavy rescue.
While working as a fire fighter, I always seemed to be doing something on the side to make extra money. By this time, 2 daughters (Paige and April) had joined the family. I had a painting business, purchased the tackle store along with my father-in-law that I had worked at as a kid, and installed sound and security systems etc. It was my last part-time job that led to my next career. I was offered a full-time job that was described as “dirty, heavy, dangerous work”. By the way, it would be outside in South Florida’s scorching summer heat….cutting up aluninum scrap. I was offered cash, along with free lunch and beer at days end. How could I say no? I’m in. I learned in short order that I could make more money in the scrapmetal business in 1 day than I could make as a Firefighter in a week. It wasn’t long before a friend and I became “partners”. He put up $10,000 and I did the work. In a few short years we had Florida Metals Recycling processing over 5,000,000 lbs of non-ferrous scrap metal a year. Our primary in-take was alumium and copper.
Daughter number 3, Brooke, came along about this time. Our family was very active with the Delray Beach Little League. Paige and April were avid softball players for years and I coached a year or two. Florida Metals Recycling sponsored more teams than anyone in the county (TeeBall, Little League, Big League, and Soccer)! We believed strongly in community support and always kept our teams in the nicest, new uniforms every year. I was also a menber of the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club. For several years FMR (Florida Metals Recycling) was also one of the primary sponsors of Palm Beach County Clean Sweep Program. This volunteer-based program organized an annual beach clean up across the Palm Beach County coastline. FMR partnered with the Ocean Impact Foundation to provide an additional Community Service Program for the state of Florida.
In 1990, FMR was instrumental in the writing of new legislation regarding state statutes and rules related to recycling. I had the opportunity organize a meeting in Orlando that brought together recycling businesses and key Florida Law Enforcement representatives.
The early 90’s brought some changes, both in business and personal life. I remarried, to a wonderful woman that gave me (yes ANOTHER) beautiful daughter…#4. Breanna was welcomed with opened arms and smothered with attention by her 3 older sisters. Breanna attended Trinity Lutheran School in Delray Beach from preschool all the way to 8th grade graduation. She played soccer on an FMR-sponsored team. It was my first chance to see one of my girls in an FMR uniform! Although Bre enjoyed playing soccer, she also had (has) a musical talent and enjoyed taking Ballet, Jazz, and Tap lessons. Both Breanna and Brooke were very active in dance and performed in many recitals over the years.
Towards the late 90’s the Asian Flu was affecting the metals markets in a very negative way. The market condition added pressure to my partner & I’s working relationship, and made my decision to move on an easier one.
My biggest regret in life (that I had any control over) was leaving the fire dept. At this point in life, I was too old to go back. I decided that I would make an effort to really “live” and enjoy life….be a participant. I had spent a great deal of time on the water: fishing, diving, and boating. I decided to become a boat captain! To meet this goal, I started attending school and acquiring all of the required licenses. With license in hand, my next step was to log time on deck.
I started out on motor yachts and had the opportunity to work on some awesome vessels. I had the chance to enjoy traveling aboard luxury watercraft while logging my needed time on deck. It was exciting to meet famous people and live the “lifestyle of the rich and famous” for a few years.
By this time I was ready to go back to school to get my Merchant Mariners Document and AB Endorsement. This would enable me to work on commercial vessels. With the required credentials in hand and a connection from a friend I met in school, I tried to get into the union. The timing was not right, so I took a position on the Cloud X as a deckhand. The first vessel of its kind, the Cloud X was an HS SWATH that transported passengers to and from Grand Bahama Island. After a short time, I was promoted to Bosun. I loved my job, the crew, and my boss. Unfortunately, the job was not turning into a long term opportunity. I decided to take another shot at the union, Local 333 Staten Island NY. It was 3 years later and the landscape was very different….licensed seamen were in demand.
Penn Maritime hired me on….I was in! My first assignment was to the Tug Dolphin. Penn has since given me more than I will ever be able to give back. Prior to my getting sick, I had the opportunity to attend Suny Maritime. In addition, I was training in the wheelhouse to become a mate.
Life has been very good to me. I have a wonderful family. I have a lot of people to be thankful to. It has taken a lot of work to get to this part of the process. Now its waiting one day at a time for “the call”. I’m ready.
-Kent