In the wake of his death during Wednesday's windstorm, Kent Butler's partner, Brooklyn Smith, and friends remember him through the kindness he shared and the music he made.

Kent and Brooklyn were artists in their respective fields, she with her horror romance novels and he with his music. 

“We met at a neighbor’s barbecue and he brought me a hard cider later because he remembered I had liked it,” Brooklyn recalled. 

When she went back to college to pursue a different degree, he bought her a bookbag with wheels to ease the shoulder pain she sometimes felt. 

“He gave with no expectations,” Brooklyn said. 

Kent was surprised, Brooklyn said, when she first told him she had a crush on him. Years later, while on medication for a medical treatment, Brooklyn finally admitted she had based a character in one of her novels on Kent.  

“For the longest time, all of our romance novel stuff was hanging out, and he either called me Brooklyn or ‘dude,’” she said with a laugh.   

The home they have shared since 2019 was something Kent wanted to paint in the perfect shade of purple to make her happy. 

For Halloween, Kent created special projections to make the house come to life with light, even though he was scared of horror. 

“It's just a nightmare, Kent was just a good, good man, and there weren’t many of those,” Brooklyn said. “That's part of what made me fall in love with him.”

Less than a week before the storm that took his life, Kent took Brooklyn to listen to a band they liked, something she'd never done before she met him because of her agoraphobia. 

Brooklyn said the plan was to get married if her book sales or his computer programming business had picked up enough to make it possible. 

As of Friday evening, two of the family’s cats had been recovered, and two are still in the area around the home, the family believes. 

“I still keep reliving the tree falling, the crash, and then hearing nothing and then seeing the whole tree trunk where Kent was,” Brooklyn said. “Everything fell around my son in a circle; it was like someone was looking out for him.” 

Contractors are working to stabilize the house. Brooklyn said she and her son, Micah, are holding together as best they can, weathering the aftermath of their loss. 

Going through items in the rubble Friday was emotionally triggering. The sight of Kent’s hairbrush brought Micah to tears. 

Brooklyn longs to keep Kent's memory alive. 

“He was always inventing things, but he would drop anything to help any friends,” Brooklyn said. “He was a genuinely good man.” 

Kayla DeTienne said Kent and her father, Ron High, frequently played music together at her parents’ house. It was one of Kent's favorite ways to bond with people. 

“They all jam out together," DeTienne said. "My son was starting guitar lessons at the place where they all play — Kent always had a little corner in the rock room."  

DeTienne said Kent was there to uplift others and collaborate on music. 

“A couple of nights before he passed, he was breaking in my son’s new guitar to just get it ready,” DeTienne said. “He was always great with kids, always helping show them the ropes musically.” 

A GoFundMe account was started to help lay Kent to rest and cover housing and pet care costs. 

Their house was a home “filled with books, music and memories, along with the family's four cats, according to the GoFundMe campaign.

    Kent Butler playing an acoustic bass.
  

    Micah, Brooklyn and Kent pose with food before sharing a Thanksgiving meal.
  

   Kent Butler