John "Gordie" Gordon Kerr

John Gordon “Gordie” Kerr aka “Papa Rock” was a jokester at heart and a loving Husband, Father, Grandfather, Great-Grandfather, Uncle and Friend. He left this world on Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at the age of 98. His stories and his sense of humor will be dearly missed. He never met a stranger and loved telling (the same) jokes to a new audience. He was long known as the only man in Oregon who knew how to make a figure 8 the hard way (two – 4’s). Papa Rock was a professional hockey player in the Pacific Coast League from 1948 to 1956. He was the league’s leading scorer in all but the next-to-last year of his professional sports career. This was right during the time of the development of the National Hockey League. Papa Rock dearly missed his beloved wife Pat (Huenergardt) (dod 2019), aka Grandma Bubbles, they celebrated 70 years of marriage on January 20, 2019 prior to her passing. One of his favorite stories to tell was the story of their brief engagement in which Grandma called after a few weeks of dating and asked what he was doing on January 20, 1949. Papa asked why…Grandma then proclaimed that was the day they were getting married. Papa joked that he didn’t even know how to spell her last name, which was probably true. He was upset when he learned the hockey team had a bet on how long their marriage would last, pretty sure their marriage outlasted the entire team. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on May 8, 1923, to parents Sarah Sinclair (McFadzean) Kerr (Born in Caitness, Scotland; dod 1983) and John Duncan Kerr (Born in Dundee, Scotland; dod 1973) both of his parents immigrated as young teens, by themselves to Canada. They met at a Scottish dance hall and married in their 30’s in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Papa was born the second of 4 children. His older brother Edgar passed in 1932, he also had younger twin siblings, David (dod 2016) and Isablel Plouffe (dod 2012). A member of the Royal Canadian Air Force and the British Royal Air Force in World War II where he served as a tail gunner in British Lancaster bombers. As a gentle but giant man, he would slightly smile as he said his job was to drop leaflets over Germany. He became a proud citizen of the United States in 1958. He is survived by his loving children: Sarah Kerr-Daly, John Kerr and Jackie Kerr Hammond (husband, Bryan Hammond). He leaves behind his beloved grandchildren: Stacia Hood (partner, Randy Shafer), Emily Carroll (partner, Tim Dolan), Ian Kerr (wife, Jessica Kerr) and Eamonn Kerr-Daly: 4 great-grandchildren; Clair and Patrick Carroll and Karlo and Tessa Hood: nephew’s Jeff Rude (wife, Joanne), Stu (wife, Gayle), Scott (wife, Lori) and niece Janet Erwin (husband, Matt) along with many extended family members. He was an avid golfer and played almost every course in Oregon as well as traveling to many countries including Australia, Mexico and Scotland to play with his son John. You could easily run across Gordie (Or Sam Pepperoni as his friends knew him) as the Course Marshall at many of the courses around Eugene. Even off the course you would often find him in his Scottish hat or ball cap and wearing a sweater, usually with coffee stains on it. That was a continual laugh for his friends and family. Gordie lived a life with many adventures that included picnics with Pat and usually with many family and friends in tow, a fierce cribbage player (even after losing his eye sight), playing Santa at the local malls, Professional napper status, Gordie’s Chuckwagon (known for giving away most of the profits, much to Pat’s chagrin), Years in Sales (7-up, RV’s, BiMart, etc), Managed Devonshire Hills Apartments (Eugene), Taking Tickets at the Lane County Fair (with a reputation for being an easy entry at the back gate), Food Demos at local grocery stores, Volunteer fire fighter when a neighbor knocked on his door and said lets go, Lover / feeder of wildlife (birds, squirrels, raccoons, possums, etc…he would say “They Are All Gods Creatures”), Always up for a good road trip as long as there were opportunities to stop for snacks along the way. The adventures in his life provided Gordie with wonderful storyteller right up to the end and had the most amazing amount of details in his stories, including every name of those involved in each and every story, although his version of the stories rarely matched Pat’s.