Joseph Edward Trent

Obituary For Joseph Edward Trent

Joseph Edward "Joe" Trent went home to be with the Lord July 7, 2023, at the age of 73. He was a loving husband, dad, “Pop Pop”, brother, uncle and friend. He was preceded in passing by his parents, Joseph Leptak and Joanne Trent; grandparents, Marion “Ed” Boyles, Mary Boyles, Joseph Leptak and Ruth Leptak; and mother-in-law, Karilyn Pendley.

Joe was born in Piqua, Ohio and at the age of three moved to Ft. Lauderdale. In high school, he took up surfing and got the nickname of "Surfer Joe". When he was 19 years old, he enlisted in the US Army and was sent to Vietnam where he was in charge of an ammunition dump. He served from July 18, 1969 - February 27, 1972 and left the Army with an honorable discharge.

On February 12, 1975, he met the love of his life, six weeks later on Easter Sunday they became engaged and October 10, 1976, became husband and wife in the front yard of the home they had just purchased. In this home they raised their son and made wonderful memories for 26 years in Florida before moving to North Carolina and then being blessed with a beautiful home on Logan Martin Lake in Alabama to enjoy their retirement years. This year they would have celebrated 47 years of marriage.

Joe loved fishing, hunting, having an immaculate lawn and he enjoyed working on projects around the house. Joe could fix anything. His wife called him her MacGyver. Most importantly he loved spending time with his family and friends. When he found out he was going to be a “Pop Pop” he was ecstatic and could not wait to tell the whole world.

An excerpt of a text from Joe to his mother following the passing of his father on Friday July 7, 2023, at 10:27 pm after hearing of his father's passing to help comfort his mother until he could be with her the next morning:

"Dad was an amazing human being, loving Husband, Father and Grandfather. He was thoughtful, funny and compassionate. He will be missed by family, friends and anyone he ever came in contact with. Dad's personality could make friends with a hat rack. He was outgoing and loved to have fun. I will miss him with all my heart, but will forever have the memories that I was so lucky to make with him."

Because of the way the Vietnam veterans were treated coming home, Joe made it his mission and passion to make sure he spoke with every veteran he saw and welcomed them home. One night recently, he and his wife had gone out on a dinner date with friends and there was a man and his wife sitting at a table near the door. The man said to him, "I love your hat" (he ALWAYS wore one of his Vietnam Veteran hats everywhere). Joe spoke to him for a bit and found out he was a Vietnam veteran as well. Later that evening he turns to Terri and said "I need to give him my hat" and he did. The man and his wife were in tears because of Joe's kind gesture. Later when we asked for the check, the server said it had already been taken care of. When leaving, they stopped at the couples table just to say good bye which turned into another half hour or longer conversation. Phone numbers were exchanged and a new friendship began.

Joe left behind to mourn his passing: his wife, Terri L. Trent; a son, Joe (Adrianna) Trent; two grandchildren, Christopher and Nicolas with a third little one on the way; two sisters, Becky Trent and Missy (John) Leptak Stager; five brothers, Robert Trent, Wayne Trent, Jeff (Flora) Leptak, Mark (Robin) Leptak and Brian Leptak; two brothers-in-law, Hoyt Pendley and Mark Pendley; eight nieces, four nephews, one great niece, five great nephews and a host of other relatives and friends.

His wife and son ask that in lieu of flowers, you can remember him by making a charitable donation to any Veterans organization of your choice.

There will not be any services to announce at this time.