Elder Wm. Rolfe Kerr has influenced the hearts and minds of countless students as an educator of wide acclaim, but he is the first to acknowledge that personal and professional successes have come through adherence to the principles and practices of the Master Teacher, Jesus Christ.
Called to the Second Quorum of the Seventy on April 6, he also has found that his lifetime of Church service and career path have complemented each other nicely. Experiences in speaking, teaching and with curriculum development in the Church have enhanced his professional work, and vice versa. The combination has been an ideal "marriage."In fact, Elder Kerr's own marriage to the former Janeil Raybould was brought about - at least in part - by the speaking abilities he had developed as a missionary and member of the Church. A mutual friend arranged for the two to meet, and their first date was attending a sacrament meeting with Elder Kerr as a speaker.
"I just remember how impressed I was with his talk and with his testimony and the feeling I felt as he was speaking," recalled Sister Kerr. "A lot of good things come out of sacrament meetings," responded Elder Kerr, smiling. He also noted that on their second date they went bowling. "She beat me, and that probably delayed the courtship a bit."
Throughout his years as an educator, the 5-foot, 10-inch General Authority was busy providing Church service as a stake president, member of several bishoprics and on four stake high councils, developing instruction manuals and other teaching materials for youth as a member of the Sunday School General Board, and in other capacities. His skills as an administrator and teacher have also helped him in his current assignment as president of the Texas Dallas Mission, where he and Sister Kerr will serve until July 1.
"I've always tried to be very careful in my professional assignments not to cross the barrier of mixing church and state to where either would be compromised," said Elder Kerr. "But I was always careful never to compromise correct principles for the sake of the secular world. Many times I communicated with educators and students using values taught by Christ that were universal. I felt there was a place for someone with a testimony of the restored gospel without imposing that testimony on anyone. I tried carefully to keep that balance."
Elder Kerr said he developed a personal creed that helped him live and work consistent with his beliefs and that bridged any gap between both areas. His creed includes such principles as: succeed at home first, seek and merit divine help, and never compromise with honesty.
"There were other principles that spun off from these, but those three concepts can be personally tied into a gospel sermon, and all three could be very thoroughly developed in an address to a college or university student body without mixing Church and state. I tried to convey those principles to students where I had opportunity to teach them."
His conviction of these and other gospel-related values and propensity toward hard work go back to his rural roots on a farm near Tremonton, in the northern part of Utah. Elder Kerr's family - which includes his three brothers, whom he counts as his closest friends and hunting companions through the years - had a cattle operation along with their farming endeavors.
Despite a daily regimen of chores and responsibilities, a young Rolfe Kerr maintained a balanced approach to life and in high school was student body president and played football, baseball and wrestled. He went on to play quarterback and serve as student body president at Utah State University - interrupting his schooling for two years to serve in the British Mission - where he majored in agriculture with the intention of ultimately returning to the farm. Instead, he spent a couple of years in the Army before Utah State offered him the opportunity to go to work there as coordinator of student government.
He and Sister Kerr, who had met at Utah State in fall 1959 and married Sept. 15, 1960, in the Logan Temple, accepted the offer. They intended the job to be an interim opportunity until the "situation at the family farm clarified itself" as his younger brothers prepared to leave home for school and missions.
"But the opportunity at Utah State started us down the course of higher education, and we never turned back," he said.
Elder Kerr worked there for three years, also earning a master's degree in marriage and family relations. He then went to Weber State College (now University) as dean of men, and later to the University of Utah as associate dean of students. He received his doctorate in educational administration from the University of Utah and went on to many other professional positions in higher education, including serving as president of Dixie College, executive vice president of BYU and as Utah State Commissioner of Higher Education. (See accompanying box for list of professional and other positions of service.)
Much of the professional success that Elder Kerr has attained is attributed, in his mind, to those early years on the farm. He also credits the influence of his early Church and school teachers, who pointed him not only down a course of gospel commitment but also toward participation in student government and extracurricular school activities that influenced his decision later on to get into higher education.
"I still have a lot of feelings for the farm - the cattle, horses and other animals - and there is a great love there. I have a deep sense of gratitude for having been raised on a farm and for the way my father treated that experience. He gave us a lot of responsibility with some rewards attached.
"Besides our regular farm chores, the cattle operation required long, hard hours. We were feeding the cattle and watching them through to market, and we got a share of the profits. That gave us a sense of responsibility that was significant. In our teenage years, my older brother, Duane, and I joined our dad in the purchase of a self-propelled combine. We did our own harvesting of wheat and barley, and then my brother and I would do custom cutting for other farmers in the valley. Those things made what seemed then like the agony of working on the farm to be very rewarding experiences and taught us some very valuable lessons."
Elder Kerr's father, Clifton G. M. Kerr, also managed a hardware store in Tremonton, where he served as a bishop, stake president and later was called as a mission president to the British Mission. During all of that he also served 16 years in the Utah Legislature, and is still living on the family farm and doing well at age 89. Elder Kerr's mother, Irene Pack Kerr, passed away in 1977.
"My mother was right at his side all the time, while also working in the Relief Society and other capacities in the Church. She was known for her unselfishness. At Christmas she would make huge amounts of hand-dipped chocolates and would give them out freely around the valley. I'm deeply indebted to my parents and to my three brothers."
Sister Kerr, the oldest of three children, also had a strong, rural family upbringing, being born in Dillon, Mont. Her family moved several times in her early years, settling in Rexburg, Idaho, as she entered seventh grade. She considers Rexburg home.
While in high school there she was active in band, orchestra, choir and as a cheerleader. She graduated from Ricks College, where she was a cheerleader and also involved in music.She was selected as "Miss Ricks College" - a fact pointed out by Elder Kerr during their Church News interview.
Her father, Verd W. Raybould, operated a jewelry store in Rexburg for many years before his death in 1968. Sister Kerr worked at the store off and on while growing up, and she remembers her father cleaning and repairing watches, with their tiny intricate parts, night after night. Her mother, Ruby, worked at his side for many years and ran the store herself for nearly seven years after his death. She and other members of Sister Kerr's family were living in Rexburg in 1976 when the Teton Dam burst, flooding much of the city.
"That was a very difficult time for my mother," recalled Sister Kerr. "Our home and belongings were damaged by the flood, but Mother showed amazing strength and courage in overcoming those trials."
The jewelry store also was flooded, and Elder Kerr traveled to Rexburg to help Sister Kerr's mother and others in the clean-up process. Sister Kerr remained at home in Logan, Utah, expecting their fifth child any day. Floodwater had hit the front door and washed through the store into an alley behind it.
"We built a screen box, went into the alley and would take a shovelful of mud and put it on top of the screen," Elder Kerr recalled. "We would take a hose and, like panning for gold, wash away the mud and retrieve diamond rings, watches, rubies and other jewelry. It was amazing."
Not surprisingly, those foundations of family togetherness that have supported Elder and Sister Kerr have carried into their immediate family, with six children ranging in age from 34 to 15.
"We feel we have a great family and wonderful children," said Sister Kerr. "Just being together and doing things as a family have always been very important to us."
Elder Kerr added that their family has had the same basic struggles found in most LDS families. "We've not always been able to accomplish everything we would like to as a family, but we keep trying. We realize there are things that we haven't always done perfectly, but we do consider our family and the gospel to be our most important possessions and highest priorities."
Sister Kerr expressed support for her husband in his new assignment, noting that "he loves the Lord and is willing to do anything he's asked in serving Him."
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Elder Wm. Rolfe Kerr
Family: Born in Tremonton, Utah, June 29, 1935, to Clifton G. M. and Irene Pack Kerr. Married Janeil Raybould Sept. 15, 1960, in the Logan Temple. Parents of six children: Kaylene Kerr (Randy) Lovell, 34; Sheila Kerr (Spencer) Christensen, 30; Julie Kerr (Cameron) Martin, 27; Jason (Kristen), 24; Nathan, 19 (France Bordeaux Mission); and Kristen, 15; three grandchildren.
Education: Bachelor's degree in agriculture from Utah State University; master's degree in marriage and family relations from Utah State University; doctorate in educational administration from University of Utah.
Employment: Utah State Commissioner of Higher Education; BYU executive vice president; Dixie College (St. George, Utah) president; Utah State University assistant to the president; University of Utah associate dean of students; Latter-day Saint Student Association assistant to the managing director; Weber State College (now university) dean of men; Utah State University coordinator of student government.
Church Service: Currently president of Texas Dallas Mission; stake president; high councilor; bishop's counselor; youth and gospel doctrine teacher; Sunday School General Board; high priests group leader.
