Kent Karsjens

Kent Karsjens

1966 – 2025

BONDURANT - Kent Karsjens, age 58, of Bondurant, was born the son of Clarence Edward Karsjens and June (Uhlenhopp) Karsjens on July 10, 1966, in Waterloo.

Visitation will be held Saturday, July 12 at 2 p.m. at Founders in Bondurant. A celebration of life service will follow at 3 p.m. with lunch following. Burial will be at a later date.

Kent graduated from Parkersburg High School in 1984 and continued his education at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in General Science. On July 26, 2004, Kent was united in marriage to Jeanne Spain in Las Vegas, Nevada. They built a new home in Bondurant and continued to live there until Kent's passing. While in college, he contract detasseled seed corn for both Pioneer and Asgrow. He also supervised a detasseling crew for Asgrow and drove the crew bus from field to field. He also worked at Walmart and Scheels sporting goods store. Kent started working for Eurofins Laboratories in 1995 shortly after graduating college and worked as a lab technician. After a short time working as a technician, he was promoted to laboratory manager. He continued working as a manager at Eurofins until his passing.

Kent participated in sports during his time spent at Parkersburg Schools. He enjoyed playing football, golf and track. He was elected Homecoming King during his senior year in high school. He played slow pitch softball in his earlier years for teams locally and in Des Moines area. Kent enjoyed watching his stepchildren participate in their sporting events. He enjoyed watching college sports and was an avid fan of the Hawkeyes. Kent was an avid fisherman and duck hunter and was a member of the "Red Rock Five" hunting group. He had a big heart and made a big difference in a lot of people’s lives by showing his love and kindness towards all that he met. Kent's greatest joy was being with his many friends and family members.

Kent passed away on Thursday, July 3, 2025, at the University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City, from complications of bacterial brain lesions. He was preceded in death by his paternal grandparents Edward and Dorothy Karsjens, maternal grandparents Henry and Lela Uhlenhopp, aunts Mary Ann Bergman, Alma Raber and Joyce Miller; uncles Donald Uhlenhopp and Melvin Uhlenhopp; two cousins Brent Bergman and Alecia Racer-Haan.

Kent is survived by his wife, Jeanne Karsjens of Bondurant; stepdaughter, Carisa Spain from Bondurant; stepson, Josh Spain of Goose Lake; stepson, Brandon Schmitz from Cumming; stepdaughter, Marisa Bingham of Osceola, Kent's parents, Clarence and June Karsjens of Parkersburg; sister, Michele (Toni Punta) Karsjens of Waterloo; nephew, Marc Karsjens of Barcelona, Spain; niece, Sonia Karsjens of Barcelona, Spain.