June 28, 1921-December 29, 2007
Kerwin DeLore Kerr I, age 86, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, died Saturday, December 29, 2007, after a lengthy illness. Kerwin, who previously lived at Boston, Kentucky, for many years, was born in Dayton, Oregon on June 28, 1921. He served as a Naval aviator and then a Marine Corp aviator. He was a veteran of World War II, the Korean War and served as engineer in the Vietnam War. He earned the rank of major in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. He earned two distinguished flying crosses and six air medals, 14 decoration ribbons as well as badges for expert rifleman, expert pistol and sharpshooter carbine and the gold winds of a naval aviator. Kerwin earned a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from Oregon State University. He was retired from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and was a land surveyor. He served several terms as the county surveyor in Nelson County, Kentucky. Kerwin Sr. was the son of Henry Allen and Sylva Hewitt Kerr of McMinnville, Oregon and the widower of Winona Yap Kerr of Hilo, Hawaii, a former corporal in the Women Marines. He was an avid reader, motorcycle enthusiast and a gun collector. He was a volunteer with KY Mathcounts for junior high school students for many years. He was a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and was a member of the National Professional Engineers Society. Survivors include his two brothers, William Henry Kerr of Ennis, Texas, and Jean and Kay Kerr of Lake Oswego, Oregon, and sister-in-law Irene Kerr of Texas; two sons, Kerwin D. Kerr II of Elizabethtown and Loren A. Kerr of Boston, KY; two daughters-in-law, Linda H. Kerr and Connie C. Kerr; three grandchildren, Eric A. and Jessica Kerr of St. Louis,MO, Jason M. Kerr of Elizabethtown, KY and Jessica L. Kerr of Radcliff, KY; and two great-grandchildren, Evelyn J. and Linda E. Kerr of St. Louis, MO.
Cremation was chosen. The funeral will be at the Kerr Family Homestead, McMinnville, Oregon.