10/20/1995
Services for John Wesley Kerr, 73, of Newton, who died October 20, at Skiff Medical
Center in Newton, were held October 23, 1995, at Wallace-Pence Funeral Home in Newton.
Burial was at Graceland Cemetery in Knoxville. The Rev. Frederick Kramer officiated
at the services.
John was born June 5, 1922, in Knoxville, the son of John J. and Maude Mae Power
Kerr. He graduated from Knoxville High School in 1918. He served in the Army during
World War II as a cook, and served General Dwight Eisenhower on several occasions.
He was police chief in Knoxville and Newton for 32 years until retiring in 1978.
He was a member of the First United Methodist Church, and the Izaak Walton League.
He had lived in Knoxville before moving to Newton in 1948.
He was united in marriage to Marjorie L. Burdick on April 7, 1942, in Knoxville.
She died in 1991.
He later married Naomi C. White Smith on June 18, 1994, in Newton.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Marjorie; a son, John B.
Kerr; and a brother, Richard.
He is survived by his wife, Naomi of Newton; five daughters, Sandra Chilcote, of
Wheat Ridge, Colo., Janice Bryant of Marion, Jacqueline Foreman of Newton, Ruth
Bachman of Cedar Rapids, and Susan Theis of Woodland Park, Colo.; a brother, Francis
of Grinnell; 11 grandchildren, eight grandchildren, 10 step-grandchildren, and 13
step-great-grandchildren.
Memorials may be made to Hospice of Jasper County.
Arrangements were made by Wallace-Pence Funeral Home in Newton.