William Monroe Kerr

William Monroe Kerr was born in Pecos, Texas on February 13, 1930, to Frances and William L. Kerr. He died in Midland on January 17, 2009.Bill grew up in Pecos, where he first met his future wife, Elle. He attended public schoolsin Pecos until he transferred to the New Mexico Military Institute in 1944. He graduated from highschool and junior college at New Mexico Military Institute, and then graduated from the Universityof Texas at Austin in 1950 and the University of Texas at Austin School of Law in 1954. He married Ellana Eastham in 1956. Bill and Elle had five children, and as he always said, "Five will get you ten," which it did.Bill had a life of astonishing variety. He was a boy scout, attaining the rank of Eagle Scout;an acolyte for years at the Episcopal church in Pecos; and a ballet dancer, perhaps not by choice, in his mother's ballet productions in Pecos. He built pipelines through the Davis Mountains. He learned to play the cornet and trumpet by dint of long practice sessions in his back yard, and played in the band at Pecos High School. At NMMI, he was an outstanding cadet and ROTC student, earning his commission as a second lieutenant upon his college graduation. He was "Our Willy" to his classmates, many of whom were his life long friends. The ROTC summer camp of 1947 at Fort Hood, Texas, attended by many of that group of friends from NMMI, was legendary and Bill had his camp photograph of that group with him to the end of his days. After graduating from NMMI, he spent the summer in Fairbanks, Alaska, working as a roofer by day, and with his friend Jack Warren on piano, played the drums in a local establishment on his off-time. His career as an entrepreneur started on the boat back home from Fairbanks to Seattle, with Jack and Bill setting up an impromptu bar serving the other passengers.While at the University of Texas, Bill pledged the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity (as a legacy from his father) and was an active member of the fraternity. He met and made many friends from those days. Bill's years at the Law School were interrupted by a year on active duty in the 57th Medium Tank Battalion, 2nd Armored Division, United States Army, serving in Europe with many of his friends and classmates from New Mexico Military Institute. His stories about his serving with a British Army detachment during his tour of duty were ones he loved to tell.After law school, Bill worked as an assistant United States Attorney in El Paso, where he wasinvolved in one of the major "Red Scare" cases of the 1950s. He then returned to Midland, wherehis family had moved in 1944, and joined his father in the law firm Turpin, Kerr, Smith, & Dyer.He practiced with the Turpin firm until 1964, when he became one of the founding partners of Kerr, Fitz-Gerald & Kerr. Bill was one of the outstanding lawyers of Texas until Alzheimer's Disease put an early end to his career.Bill was a great lawyer, and with his father and brother Ted served as mentors to lawyers allover West Texas. Bill loved being a lawyer, and was a 50-plus year member of the State Bar ofTexas and a member of the Texas Bar Foundation. He was always proud of the law, and in particular protecting and helping people in their times of dire need. Bill represented people from all walks of life and treated them all the same. He was a lawyer, advisor, and counselor to many. Bill always wanted his obituary to say "He was a good lawyer", and so it does.In addition to work as a lawyer, Bill's restless intellect led him to try his hand at other things.In the early 1960s he took a stab at redeveloping and reinventing downtown Midland with his Midland Marts development. He was a rancher and cowman, owning the Winecup Ranch in Nevada and a feedlot near Pecos. He farmed and had other business ventures in Mexico. But his law practice was central to his life, and he was to himself always first and foremost a lawyer.Bill survived his parents, Frances and William L. Kerr; his wife, Elle Kerr, who died not longafter their 50 anniversary; and his youngest son, Robert Francis Kerr. He is survived by his brother, Ted Kerr, and his wife Sue, and their sons Ted Kerr, Jr. and Charles Kerr, and their families; his first cousin and lifelong friend, Jane Kuykendall of Lubbock; another cousin, Jim Ed Miller of Pecos; and his distant kinswoman, Mrs. Wm. Mark Johnson, III, last of the sidesaddle bronc riders, who played an important role in his life.He is also survived by his four children, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild: his son,Harris E. Kerr, and his wife Vicki Kerr, and their children, Rachel L. Kerr and Ruthanne E. Kerr,of Midland; his daughter, Claire K. Flynn and her husband, Charles C. Flynn, and their children,Charles Flynn, Jr. and his wife Marcelle Abusalbi, and their daughter Maia; and Jennifer FlynnBuckley and her husband Christopher Buckley, all of Austin; his son, William M. Kerr, Jr., and hischild, Isabelle Kerr, of Austin; and his son, Moshe Kerr, and his wife Karen Kerr, and their child Hadassah Kerr, of Israel.Bill's family owes special thanks to his caregivers, Shirley Barnes and Cedric Toppins, who made the years after Elle Kerr's death cheerful and pleasant for Bill; Vicki Kerr, who spent countless hours with Bill at Manor Park; Tulsi Singh, M.D., who took wonderful care of Bill during his last years; and the many caregivers at The Vogel Center and The Younger Center, at Manor Park. Bill enjoyed the people he met at Manor Park, many of whom he knew well if only they could have remembered it.A memorial service will be held for Bill Kerr at the Manor Park Chapel at 1:00 o'clock p.m.on Friday, January 23, 2009. In lieu of flowers, the family would suggest memorial gifts be madeto The New Mexico Military Institute Foundation, Inc., c/o Jimmy Barnes, NMMI Foundation, 101W. College, Roswell, New Mexico 88201; the Elle and Bill Kerr Presidential Endowment at theUniversity of Texas at Austin, c/o Jeff Melton, Director of Development, UT Austin, PO Box 7458, Austin, Texas 78713-7458; Manor Park Endowment, c/o Alan Hale, 2208 N. Loop 250 West, Midland, Texas 79705; or a local charity of your choice.,