Dr. Carole Lynne Harris-Kerr

It is with great sadness that the family of Dr. Carole Lynne Harris-Kerr announces that Carole has passed away at her home in Lorton, VA. Carole was born to William “Bill” Harris and Linda Meltzer Harris during a Hoosier basketball tournament blizzard in Elwood, Indiana on February 26, 1961. Carole attended elementary and high school at Shawnee township, near Lima, Ohio before the family moved to Findlay, OH where she graduated in 1979. She had participated in the National Field Studies' study trip to Andros Island and was involved with the Shawnee and Findlay flag and drill teams and won a scholarship from Marathon Oil Company in Findlay.

Carole began her college education at Texas Lutheran College in Sequin, TX, but transferred to the University of Tennessee where she obtained her BA degree in cell biology and chemistry with honors and a minor in physical science in 1983. Carole then went on to get her masters degree in microbiology in 1987 at the University of Tennessee. Even though it was a difficult subject, Carole obtained her Ph.D. In molecular and cellular biology at the University of Pittsburgh in 1992.

She was a well-published molecular biologist with both general and highly specialized training in molecular genetics, RNA processing, and high throughput genomics. She had a wealth of research and teaching experience working in both industry and academia with over fifteen years in the field of human genetics, most specifically the areas of inherited arrhythmia and psychiatric genetics. She had proven abilities and expertise in gene association discovery, development of genetic tests, and variant analysis. Carole was also an excellent teacher and had a way of relating high technology to lay people.

Not only did Carole have a deep interest in science, but she always enjoyed singing in her church choir at Trinity on the Green near Yale University in New Haven, CT. She also was associated with Pohick Episcopal Church, in the Lorton, VA area. Carole was a wonderful cook and always enjoyed her grandmothers' cookies over the years.

Carole is survived by her parents; her son, Eric Douglas Kerr, of Fairfield, OH; her brother, David W. Harris, and his wife, Linda, of Clinton, TN; her uncles, Richard L. (Cheryl) Harris of Las Cruces, NM; and Tim L. (Debe) Harris of Kokomo, IN ; her godfather, William K. “Bud” Riley of Arcadia, IN; her aunts, Mrs. Judy White and Mrs. Janice Leever of Elwood, IN, her nephews Taylor (Katie) Harris and Peyton Harris of California. as well as several very special cousins in the Harris, Birkinbine and Fields families. She had many friends of different cultures and ethnicities.

Carole is preceded in death by her paternal grandparents, Harold and Ruth Harris and maternal grandparents Gurney and Sabrina Meltzer; her beloved Grandma Bea and godmother, Alice Riley, “uncle” Curtis Eldon Birkinbine and “aunts” Patsy Birkinbine, Carolyn Fields.

Memorial suggestions are to Dr. Michael Ackerman's Sudden Infant Death Syndrone Foundation at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota; St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis, TN; Pohick Episcopal Church in Lorton, VA or a charity of your choice.