KERR, Barbara

The White Mountain Independent, Show Low, Arizona ~ 04/06/2012 Barbara Prosser Kerr, 86, died April 2, 2012, peacefully at home. She was born December 28, 1925 in North Carolina. Barbara attended nursing school in Washington D.C, receiving a B.A. from the University of Chicago and later earned a masters degree in social work from the Arizona State University. She worked for 13 years at the Maricopa County Hospital as an emergency room social worker and psychiatric nurse. Having suffered from respiratory problems all her life, Barbara made a series of moves to cleaner air from New York City, to Delaware, to Tempe and then to Taylor in 1980. While she was in Tempe she and her friend and neighbor, Sherry Cole, developed the “Solar Box Cooker.” Made of lightweight, easily obtained materials, the cooker was taken around the world. Barbara’s innovations with solar cooking have eased the lives of many hundreds of thousands of women in countless countries. Barbara earned numerous awards for her contributions to environmental solutions and humanitarian achievements. She wrote three books: “The Expanding World of Solar Box Cookers,” “Home Was A Windjammer” and “God As A Shifting Concept.” She also became known for her experimental home which is a showplace for inexpensive, people-friendly solar tools and sustainable living. To assure the continuance of her work, she created the non-profit Kerr-Cole Sustainable Living Center in 2002. Barbara is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Diana and Don Marshall; three granddaughters: Amy, Alison and Melissa; five great-grandchildren; brother-in-law Dewey Smith and her former husband, William Kerr. She was predeceased by her sister, Gwynne Smith, and her best friend Sherry Cole. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Kerr-Cole Sustainable Living Center PO Box 576 Taylor, AZ 85939. Donations may be made online at www.kerr-cole.org Silver Creek Mortuary of Taylor handled arrangements.