Kent Parsons was an engineer who helped to create the first network of television and radio translators, enabling transmissions to reach rural locations. Parsons was so dedicated to his work that, during the 1950s and ’60s, he literally hauled the tube transmitters by horseback to mountain peaks in Utah.

His original system was the model used across the United States. It is still used, though digitally updated, in Utah’s extensive television translator network, delivering television broadcasts and FM radio from Salt Lake City to rural communities in Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada and Idaho.

Parsons worked at the University of Utah from 1966 until his retirement in 2003. He also served as vice president of NTA, the National Translator Association, for many years.

He died February 7, 2015, in Monroe, Utah, at the age of 82.