Isabell M Kerr

Isabell Marie McArthur Kerr, 88, of Florence, Mississippi, passed from this world to be in the arms of her Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, on Tuesday, March 8, 2011, at St. Dominic Jackson Memorial Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi. Visitation will be at Wright and Ferguson on High Street in Jackson, on Friday, March 11, 2011, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. Visitation on Saturday, March 12, 2011, will begin at 11:00 a.m. and the Funeral Service will begin at 12:00 noon at the Wright and Ferguson Chapel on High Street. Entombment will be at the family's mausoleum, the Chapel of Prayer, located in the Chapel of the Lake Mausoleum at Lakewood Memorial Park on Clinton Boulevard in Jackson, Mississippi.

Isabell was born in Pearlington, Hancock County, Mississippi, on December 2, 1922, to parents Wilbur Wallace McArthur and Abbiegail Isabell Giveans McArthur. She was the second of nine children who were raised in Logtown, Hancock County, Mississippi. Isabell was christened and confirmed at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Pearlington, Mississippi. She graduated from Bay St. Louis High School in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. After graduation she was a substitute teacher at Logtown Elementary for a while, then was employed at the Picayune Garment Factory in Picayune, Mississippi. During World War II she worked at Higgins Aircraft at the Michoud Plant in New Orleans, LA. In November of 1944 she traveled by train to Staunton, Virginia, to marry the love of her life, John Lewis Kerr, on November 13, 1944. After the war she moved with him from his Army base in Virginia to Jackson, Mississippi, to take care of family and start to raise their own family.

After marrying, she became Baptist as her husband was. They were charter members of Broadmoor Baptist Church, where she was a Sunday School Teacher, member of the Women's Missionary Union, and a Girls Auxiliary Leader among the many other contributions she made to Broadmoor. She was on the Broadmoor Women's Thursday Morning Bowling League and the Broadmoor Mixed Double Bowling League with her husband, John. Isabell always looked forward to traveling with her husband to Mississippi Trucking Association and American Trucking Association conventions. She was active in the Garden Club's of Jackson for many years for she loved gardening and "working" in the yard to provide all the lovely flowers, trees, and shrubbery, that she did at her home on Manhattan Road for many years. She also loved to cook and entertain a lot of company who enjoyed her hospitality whether it was a church social, holiday meal, or backyard cookout. She moved from Jackson to Florence, Mississippi, in 1990, to assist in managing the Confederate Heights Golf Club with her family where she enjoyed all the golfers and swimmers and entertained family with poolside parties, tailgating with relatives as they took refuge at her home during hurricane season, and bonfires at her backyard cabin beside the lake at her home.

Isabell was a true Southern Bell who was greatly loved by and was a great comfort to all who knew her. She was very devoted to all her family as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, grandmother, and great grandmother who took very good care of her family in any way she could. She loved all her children and was very active in all their church, school, and civic activities with them. She was an active member in the PTA and room mother for her children's classes. She enjoyed watching her children and grandchildren play sports while they were growing up, as she was always cheering for someone and encouraging them to do their best. She was always staying busy taking someone somewhere they had to go.

She is survived by her five children, John Lewis Kerr, Jr., Joan Marie Johnson and her husband, Durwood of Anderson, South Carolina, Jane Elizabeth Harper, Dr. Jeffrey Hayes Kerr and his wife, Diane of Cedar Lake, Oklahoma, and Janet Gail Reynolds and her husband, Mitch of Florence, Mississippi. She is survived by five grandchildren, David Lewis Johnson, Anjanette Marie Johnson White, Holly Janelle Harper McNeal, Brian Allen Johnson, and William Matthew Harper; many great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. She is survived by sisters, Gloria M. Dunaway and Lottie M. Holden of Pearlington, MS, and Thelma M. Whatley of Pascagoula, MS; sister-in-laws, Alma McArthur of Pearlington, MS and Janice McArthur of Baton Rouge, LA. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews who fondly called her "Aunt Bell".

She was preceded in death by her husband, John Lewis Kerr, Sr.; parents, Wilbur and Abbey McArthur; sisters, Barbara Ann McArthur Miller, Dorothy McArthur Wilkinson; and brothers, Martin McArthur, Wilbur McArthur, and Henry McArthur.