Obituary of Geraldean Marie Kerr Minor

Jerri was born in Modesto, California on May 29, 1924, the only child Thomas Kerr and Gladyce Coleman Kerr. She spent her early years in Sonora and Jamestown. She and her mother moved to Stockton, Tracy, and Berkeley after her father died when Jerri was 14. During her high school years, Jerri moved back to Tracy to live with her three cousins, Arianne (aka "Jimmie"), Suzanne, and Dorothy (aka "Boots"), and her aunt and uncle, Ed and Bessie Gerlach, on their ranch. She attended Tracy High School for her junior and senior years and graduated from Tracy High School in 1942. She then attended Stockton Junior College before being accepted and transferring to College of the Pacific (now University of the Pacific --- UOP). During her COP days and was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority -- a "tri-delt" as they were known. While at COP, she enlisted in the Navy and became a member of the WAVES. Her boot camp started in Georgia and brought her back to California where she served for two years in San Diego, achieving the rank of Storekeeper 3rd class. Jerri received an Honorable Discharge from the Navy in 1945. While in the Navy, she met her future husband, Elmo Lee Minor, also a Navy enlistee. They married in Sonora, California on October 1945 and began married life in San Diego and had three children, Gregory Lee of Yorba Linda, Douglas Edmund (deceased in 2002), and Virginia Ann Minor Williams of Santa Cruz. They left San Diego in 1953 to come back to Lindsay, California, where Elmo had grown up and gone to school. They sought a quieter, more rural life than San Diego. It was while living in Lindsay that Jerri continued her college education at Fresno State College, now California State University Fresno (CSUF) and began her teaching career. Jerri was an elementary school teacher throughout her entire career which lasted until her retirement in 1979. Teaching in Lindsay, El Sobrante, and Stockton, she was able to obtain a teaching job whenever her husband Elmo had a job transfer. Jerri and Elmo were married 49 years before Elmo passed away in October 1994 of esophageal cancer and severe Parkinson's disease. She had two granddaughters, Marla and Whitney, and four great-grandchildren, Gregory, Rory, Abigail, and Daisy. She also became a grandmother again when her daughter Virginia married Todd Edward Williams in 1991, who already had a daughter, Laurenne Elizabeth. Jerri joined the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls while living in Berkeley. She affiliated with Tracy Assembly when she moved in 1940. She was Grand Recorder in 1945 but did not get to serve at Grand Assembly since she was on active duty in the WAVES. Rainbow held a one-day Grand Assembly session that year in Santa Cruz, California. She received the Grand Cross of Color while in Tracy Assembly. Jerri stayed active in Rainbow for all of her life. Once her daughter Virginia also joined Rainbow, she became Mother Advisor of Fern E. Schreiber Assembly #209, Stockton. That led to her being appointed as district Grand Deputy, a position which she held for many years. She was then appointed as Area Grand Deputy and had responsibility for all assemblies from Redding to Visalia. She was also awarded the honor of "Grand Deputy Emeritus" for having served for over 25 years in that position. Jerri had the distinct honor of being appointed as California Rainbow's very first State Mother Advisor in 1977, an honor which she cherished. Even after moving to Santa Cruz, Jerri again became active in Santa Cruz Assembly #28, serving on the Advisory Board for a number of years before health issues forced her retirement. Jerri was from a very Masonic family. Her father, as well as her uncles, had all been active Master Masons, and her mothers, as well as most of her aunts, were members of the Order of the Eastern Star. She joined Joaquin Chapter #348, Order of the Eastern Star, Tracy, California, in 1944. She later affiliated with Lindsay Chapter #306 where she and Elmo served as Worthy Matron and Worthy Patron in 1959. Upon moving to Stockton in 1962, she joined Linden Chapter #372 where she served as Worthy Matron in 1995 and again in 2001. She served as Deputy Grand Matron in 1999 and was president of the Northern Deputy Grand Matron Association for that year. She then affiliated with Santa Cruz Redwoods Chapter #273. Jerri was a 69-year member of Eastern Star. Jerri served as State Chairman of the former OES Memorial Cancer Dressing Stations Committee for a number of years. She was instrumental in making this committee a very vital part of the Eastern Star charities and community service outreach efforts. This state committee is now known as the Eastern Star Patient Comfort Program. Jerri was very proud and interested in her Scottish heritage on her father's side (Kerr) and in her Choctaw heritage on her mother's side (who was born in 1900 in Indian Territory and later became Oklahoma). She was a card-carrying member of the Choctaw Nation and attended many of their national pow-wows with her cousins Boots and Suzi when health permitted. Jerri was a life-long dog lover --- and had some memorable ones during her life. Of particular note are Lochie, her Scottish Terrier, who she adored when she was a child; Clancy, one of her Boston Terriers who traveled with her during her adult Rainbow days; Indy, an Australian Terrier that she fell in love with at her son's home and took home; and Maggie, her daughter's Boston Terrier who became "Nurse Maggie" to Jerri and would always be by her side when she was not feeling well. A Memorial Service will be held at the Tracy Masonic Temple, 1601 N Tracy Blvd, Tracy, CA on Sunday, January 12, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. Jerri will be interred at San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery with her husband Elmo and son Douglas. All veterans, they were always proud to have served their country. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Jerri's memory to Hospice of Santa Cruz County, 940 Disc Drive, Scotts Valley, CA 95066; California Eastern Star Foundation - Patient Comfort Program, or the California Eastern Star Foundation - Scholarship Fund, 16960 Bastanchury Rd. Suite E, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1711.