Eagle pin awarded to Naples Boy Scout who died of cancer

Since he was a little boy, Kent Durante dreamed of becoming an Eagle Scout. 

Durante died of cancer last November when he was 18, but his lifelong goal was realized Saturday.

He and two of his fellow Scouts received the highest rank in the Boy Scouting program during an Eagle Court of Honor ceremony at St. Ann Catholic Church.

More than 100  relatives, friends and Scouts with Troop 165 of Naples watched as Connor Jenkins, 17, and Nicholas Laws, 18, stood on a stage and became Eagle Scouts. 

In Durante's place, his scout uniform shirt hung on a chair.

Near the stage, photos showed Durante and his fellow Scouts enjoying their many adventures together. That's how they want to remember him. 

"He loved every minute of (Boy Scouts)," said his father, Dave Durante.

His son lost his battle with a rare cancer affecting his kidneys in November 2016. He was diagnosed in the summer of 2015.

A stomach ache led doctors to find a tumor the size of a bicycle seat in his kidney, two tumors resembling tennis balls in his liver, and another tumor at the bottom of his lungs, Durante said.

Despite the diagnosis, Kent continued to be actively involved in Boy Scouts and graduated cum laude from Estero High School. 

Kent was about 7 years old when he became a Tiger, the first Cub Scout level. 

"His favorite place was near a campfire," Durante said before the ceremony began.

He gets that from his father, said Diana Durante, Kent's grandmother.

"My son was always out in the woods. He didn't get it from me or his father. He instilled that in Kent I think," she said, smiling.

Durante was so excited that his son was going to follow in his footsteps with Scouts that he got him his first backpack before he was even a Tiger.

"It was bigger than him," he said, laughing. "He was a backpack with feet."

Kent was in the planning stages of his Eagle Scout project before he was diagnosed with cancer. His Scout project was put on hold for chemotherapy. 

A Boy Scout has to complete a community service project to become an Eagle Scout. But Kent was too weak at the time, so his troop quickly stepped in to help. 

While Durante was at home in hospice care, the troop spent a day completing his project, restoring a dock at Camp Cocohatchee off Wiggins Pass Road in North Naples. 

"Kent was a brother to us," Laws said. "He's been in our patrol since the beginning, about five to six years ago. When someone like that needs help, we're motivated to help them."  

Jenkins helped Kent with his project before working on his own. 

"I have no right to say this (project) was difficult for me because Kent did it with cancer," he said. "That was awesome in the most literal sense of the word."  

Kent died only hours after finding out his troop finished his project. 

To honor him Saturday, Nicholas chose to give a special mentor pin to Durante, who serves as one of the troop's assistant Scoutmasters. 

Durante held back tears with a red handkerchief. 

Kent's sister, Sarah, and his mother, Betsy, also were at the ceremony. Betsy said her son never stopped thinking about his troop, even during chemotherapy. 

"He was just so strong through the whole thing," she said. 

Brian Connell, the troop's Scoutmaster, said Scouts like Kent are the reason why they're so successful.

"We continue this tradition today by honoring these three young men even though one of them is no longer with us today," Connell said to the crowd. "These three young men have demonstrated the highest ideals of Troop 165." 

During a moment in the ceremony, parents were asked to place an Eagle Scout pin on their sons' shirts.

The Durantes stood by Kent's shirt hanging on a chair and placed the pin delicately on the smooth material.