William Y. Kerr 1886-1977

KERR, MOATS, GRUVER, LIGHT, SHAFFER, BENNETT, TORSON, PATTERSON, MALKOW

Posted By: S. Ferrall - IAGenWeb volunteer
Date: 4/6/2018 at 14:39:00

William Y. Kerr was born Dec. 3, 1886, in Highland Township near Volga, Iowa, son of Thomas and Ella (Moats) Kerr. He received his education in Highland Township and attended business college in Oelwein.

He was baptized in the Christian faith.

On Jan. 15, 1910, he was united in marriage to Anna Gruver in the Methodist parsonage, West Union, Iowa, by Rev. Leonard Swisher. To this union eight children were born, Leone, June, Ferne, Thomas, Robert, James, Clifton and Nona.

They spent their entire life in the Elgin vicinity. They had celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in 1975.

Mr. Kerr spent his last four years in the Good Samaritan Center, Postville, Iowa, where he died suddenly Dec. 26, 1977. He had reached the age of 91 years and 23 days.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Anna, his parents, two sisters, one son Thomas, one daughter, June Light, one daughter-in-law, and two grandsons.

Mr. Kerr is survived by six children, Mrs. Ralph (Leone) Shaffer, Mrs. Cleve (Ferne) Bennett, Mrs. Virgil (Nona) Torson all of Elgin, Robert of Clermont, James of Waterloo and Clifton of Nashville, TN. There are also 24 grandchildren, 50 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild, two sisters Mrs. Hattie Patterson, Wadena and Mrs. Elmer (Fern) Malkow, Madison, WI; many nieces and nephews and a host of friends.

Funeral services for William Kerr were held in the Illyria Community Church, Elgin, Iowa, on Friday, Dec. 30, 1977, at 1:30 p.m. with the Rev. John McCorkell officiating. Mrs. John Smith, organist, accompanied the vocalist, Donald Torson. Casket bearers were William Bennett, Robert Kerr Jr., Roger Torson, Gary Kerr, William Kerr and Douglas Light. Honorary casket bearers were Clifton Kerr Jr., Tommy Kerr and Randy Torson.

Interment was in the Illyria Cemetery, Elgin, Iowa.

~Elgin Echo, Wednesday, January 4, 1978