Regina M. Kerr

On February 4th, 1923 there was a howling storm outside a farm in Mower County, Minnesota. Jean was born that night to Roy and Luella (Frannea) Young. She was their third child. They moved to Blooming Prairie, Minnesota when she was three. They were in the midst of the great depression at that time so there was a lot of worry on the part of her parents. But Jean, her sisters, and her brother were always happy and never felt deprived.

Her school years were happy ones, and she graduated from Blooming Prairie High School in 1940. She moved to Omaha, Nebraska to be near her sister, Maxine, and worked at many odd jobs before going to work at the Glenn L. Martin Bomber Plant in 1942. She worked in the electrical department on B26s, and then on B29s. She joined the Civil Air Patrol and learned to fly.

Her fiancée, Cecil Kerr, returned from serving in the Army Air Force in France and England, and they were married on July 30, 1945. They recently celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary. Cec and Jean lived in many places before finding their home in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Music was always a part of Jean’s life. She played the trombone in the school band, and loved to sing and dance. She was a great cook and loved to sew. She will be remembered for the crazy cards she made for friends and family. She and Cec loved to travel, play cards and gamble a bit as they grew older.

Jean worked at Sears in La Crosse for eight years before they moved to Richland Center, Wisconsin where she worked at the Richland Hospital for 17 years. When she retired and they moved back to Onalaska, Wisconsin, she volunteered at the Gunderson/Lutheran Hospital for six years.

Her family always came first. She is survived by the love of her life and best friend, Cecil Kerr; her daughter, Terry (Mik Derks) Kerr of Ridgeway, Wisconsin, and their children, Asa Derks of Spring Green, Wisconsin and Noah (Stacy Amble) Derks of Madison, Wisconsin; her son, Stephen (Anna) Kerr of La Crosse, Wisconsin and his children, Lindsay (Trey) Anderson of West Salem, Wisconsin, Jenna (Mike) Paglini of La Crosse, Wisconsin and Sean (Melissa) Kerr of La Crosse, Wisconsin and Anna’s son, Giuseppe Quaresima of Thunder Bay, Canada; great grandchildren Vanessa Kerr-Forbes, Theo and Aria Anderson and Jonah and Logan Paglini.

She is preceded in death by her brother Evan Young and his wife Lorene of Muncie, Indiana, sister Maxine Rapton and her husband Jim of Phoenix, Arizona, and sister Georgianna Thornton and her husband Jim of Bellevue, Nebraska.

A celebration of her life will be held at 12 PM on Saturday, November 29, 2014 at the Schumacher-Kish Funeral Home, 200 West Avenue. S., La Crosse, Wisconsin with visitation beginning at 11 AM.