KERR, Donald L. (Don)

The Wickenburg Sun, Wickenburg, AZ March 22, 2000, p. A16 Don Kerr, councilman, civil leader and educator Was founder of country club, charter member of Desert Caballeros Don Kerr, a civil leader in Wickenburg and a longtime educator in the community for almost 30 years, died March 16 in Tucson. Kerr, 87, came to Wickenburg in 1946 and built the Slash Bar K Ranch which is now The Meadows. He taught elementary school here for 18 years, and was principal of the high school for one year before retiring in 1971. Kerr was also one of the founding members in 1950 of the Wickenburg Country Club, and a charter member of the Desert Caballeros men’s riding organization, which he helped establish here in 1948. He was a past El Presidente of the Desert Caballeros. Kerr served as a member of the Town Council from August 1961 to May 1964, and was a former president of the “Round Up Club,” the forerunner to the Chamber of Commerce. He also was a long-time member of the Wickenburg Rotary Club, serving as its president. He was a founder of St. Alban Episcopal Church in Wickenburg. Kerr and his first wife, Margarita, were very active in the Wickenburg Public Library, and “Margie” wrote a book column for the local newspaper. “He was a great guy,” said Royce Coxwell Kardinal, who knew the Kerr family for many years. They were the next door neighbors of the Coxwell family, and Don and Royce Kardinal’s father, Roy, now also deceased, were close friends. Kerr was a native of Chicago, Ill., and a 1934 graduate of the Chicago School of Business. He received a degree as a Juris Doctor in Law from the same school in 1935. After practicing law in Chicago for seven years, he joined the U. S. Navy during World War II, and was discharged with the rank of lieutenant in 1946. Kerr operated the Slash Nar K ranch in Wickenburg for 11 years from 1946-1957, then went on to gain a Master of Arts degree from the university of Arizona before embarking on his teaching career here. Donald L. Kerr, 87, died in his Tucson home on Thursday, March 16. Burial will be in Dixon, Ill. After graduating from the University of Chicago Law School, he married Margaretha Moore, his wife of 55 years. He practiced law until enlisting in the United States navy during World War II, achieving the rank of lieutenant. After the war he moved to Wickenburg, where he owned and operated the Slash Bar K Ranch and subsequently taught and was principal in the public school system. While in Wickenburg Mr. Kerr was an organizing member of the Desert Caballeros Ride, the Wickenburg Country Club, St. Alban Episcopal Parish and the Wickenburg Community Hospital. He has also been a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, the Masonic Blue Lodge, Tucson Scottish Rite, El Zaribah Shrine of Phoenix, the BPOE Elks Lodge and Rotary International. During his retirement in Tucson, he volunteered with “call for Action,” Tucson Opera Company, and the Tucson Police Department. Mr. Kerr is survived by his wife Jane Kerr of Tucson; his daughter, Karen Ashurst of Tucson; his son, Donald Kerr, Jr. of Tallahassee, Fla.; his grandchildren, Michael Lawrence of Irvine, Calif., Lisa Lawrence of San Diego, Calif., and Linda Proctor of Concord, N.H.; and great grandchildren, Ethan and Samuel Proctor of Concord.