William R. Kerr

William R. , Bill, Kerr

Died belatedly on March 20, 2017 at age 85 after a long and mostly happy life. He was preceded in death by the love of his life for fifty nine years and his wife of more than fifty three years, Sally Fuller Kerr, in 2007, hence "belatedly" and "mostly" happy.

He was a graduate of Wilkinsburg High School in Wilkinsburg, PA; and of Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburg, PA. He began his career in nuclear energy at Westinghouse Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory where he made a small contribution to the reactor for the world's first atomic submarine and was involved in fuel plate processing for several other reactors. He was best known at Bettis as 'the fellow who married Sally Fuller' the prettiest girl at the lab.* He spent two years at Aberdeen Proving Grounds as an instructor in The Ordnance School; he was discharged as a First Lieutenant and continued in the nuclear industry at Bettis, then at Atomics International in Canoga Park, CA and Mound Laboratory in Miamisburg, OH. In 1967 he was employed at Wright Patterson AFB in the Aerospace Research Laboratories, then in the Air Force Materials Laboratory. He worked with titanium aluminide, iron aluminide and metal matrix composites

Employees and the clientele of the Kettering Stretch and Sew store, the Polen Farm Quilt Group, and the Miami Valley Quilt Guild knew him as "Sally's ". He was a volunteer at Carriage Hill Farm, Bergamo, and The Print Shop at Carillon Park. He was a member of the COG Memoir Writing Group, of the Charles I Lathrem Senior Center Memoir Writing Group.

He is survived by his beloved children: Jeffrey Kerr of Kettering, OH; Jennifer (and Jerry) Morland of Gratis, OH; and Daniel (and Sally Sine) Kerr of Bellbrook, OH; and by his marvelous granddaughters: Abigail Vallance of Mason, Sarah and Sydney Kerr of Bellbrook. These last three knew him as Gubby, the old guy who lived at Gramma's house.