Committed to his work and his family, Jason Robert Gentry was the proud husband of Jennifer and father of Samuel and Elisabeth.
Spending time with his children and family was Jason’s main priority, right alongside serving God, his wife Jennifer said.
“Jason was the best kind of man — the type of man all men want to be and want to be remembered as,” Jennifer said. “He was a phenomenal husband and father because he loved, trusted and followed God with all his heart.”
Jason was a provider who always ensured his family had everything it needed and was sure to get every job done right, whether professional or personal, Jennifer said.
“Jason was always quick to say, ‘I love you,’ and really meant it. I mean, really mean it. He was always quick to do what was right. He was not going to compromise on anything,” Jennifer said. “He always made sure we were provided for. Whether it was emotionally, financially, spiritually — whatever it was — he always made sure we were provided for and took care of everything.”
Making family time a priority, Jennifer said Jason always made sure to be home for breakfast and dinner to eat with the family.
“We were always together. We loved to be together; we made it a priority to always eat breakfast and dinner together,” Jennifer said. “Jason always made our date nights a priority and, in reality, he probably spent more time with his kids in five and seven years than most kids get in 18 years.”
Oftentimes, he would spend time playing with his children, Samuel, age 7, and Elisabeth, age 5, in any means he could.
“Daddy was always so good to us,” Elisabeth said.
“I love Daddy so much, and I’m very proud of him,” Samuel said.
“Many of the pictures I have with [him and the] kids, he’d frequently hold them or carry them or let them ride on his shoulders,” Jennifer said. “There’s so much joy on his face in these pictures.”
With homeschooling their two children, Jennifer said when Jason would go on work trips, they were able to travel with him and experience places like Chicago together as a family.
“The kids and I explored Indianapolis when he was in a conference and we went up to Chicago and we traveled a lot together,” Jennifer said.
Jason also had a passion for home improvement projects. He was able to craft anything and learn new skills as needed, such as tiling or mechanic work, Jennifer said.
“He was incredibly intelligent. He could do really anything he turned his hand to,” Jennifer said. “He could do anything from rebuild the engine of a car to weld [and] he did intricate woodworking, the kind of stuff that people spend decades learning to do.”
Studying fluvial geomorphology, Jason was very passionate about how water changes and shifts, Jennifer said. While they lived in Tennessee, Jason pursued a long-term project for his job which involved creating a flood warning system for an area that was prone to flooding in order to warn park rangers when to evacuate the area.
“People go down there and swim and play in the waterfall. You get a couple hundred people down there at a time and the problem is to get out of there, you had to hike along a trail along the riverbank for a long ways before you can start ascending upward, there was no other way to get out of that area,” Jennifer said. “They consistently had flooding [even when] they would have clear blue skies, and what was described as a ‘wall of water’ would come over the top of the waterfall. It would flash flood that area.”
After months of investigation, Jason installed rain gauges to alert authorities when the water was too high and the area needed to be closed, Jennifer said.
Though Jason’s collegiate journey did not begin at Texas A&M, Jennifer said College Station was the place that God intended for them to be. After graduating with honors from Tennessee Technological University, a professor mentioned to Jason that he could truly go anywhere with his intelligence and recommendations. Though A&M was not his first pick, Jennifer said Jason quickly fell in love with the campus and especially the people on it.
“He didn’t apply all over the place, but he really prayed about where God was calling our family next, and it came down to a couple of schools. He really liked the program at one of the other schools, it was exactly what he was looking at and while he likes A&M, it was not that perfect fit, but he really felt like this was where we were supposed to be,” Jennifer said. “Jason really loved the people at A&M. So even though he wasn’t sure if the program was exactly what he was looking for, he really loved the people of A&M and of Texas in general.”
His father-in-law Bruce Dillinger said Jason was always very focused on his work and furthering his education, but always left time for his family and God.
“Jason was a loving and Godly husband and father. We thought of him as a son rather than a son-in-law,” Bruce said. “He was very diligent in his studies and work, but God and family were his priorities. He was also proud to be a part of the family of Texas A&M. He will be greatly missed.”