JONATHON BRADEN KERR
1985-2017
The Life of My Beautiful Boy
Jonathon Braden Kerr, or “Jon Jon”, was born at St. Joseph Hospital in Bryan, Texas on February 23rd, 1985 and passed away May 27, 2017. He lived the majority of his life in College Station with the exception of the time he spent serving this great nation as a United States Marine in Afghanistan. He attended Allen Academy from kindergarten until graduation. He then attended Sam Houston State University.
By the age of 15, Jonathon had accomplished more than most in a lifetime. He raced Motocross for 13 years, every single weekend. He was a Factory Rider for Team Green Kawasaki for several years. He retired from Motocross at the age of 18 with over 50 National Titles and over 1000 trophies.
After attending college, in 2008, Jonathon joined the Marine Corps. He wanted to serve his country. He was involved in the “push for Marjah” in Afghanistan where he served 8 months during 2009. After nearly 4 years, he retired with honors as Lance Corporal Kerr. He was retired with close to 100% PTSD and stage 3 asthma acquired in Afghanistan. As a result, when he returned home from war, he could never race again.
He became deeply passionate about Homeless Veterans and dreamt of setting up a fund for his cause. That dream is coming true, and there will be a “Lance Corporal Jonathon B. Kerr Fund for Homeless Veterans and Traumatic Brain Injuries.” In lieu of flowers, please make a charitable donation to this cause in honor of Jonathon. This Fund is currently being set up and should be available online soon.
He loved to read anything and everything he could find about space. He asked his Momma if he could sign up to go to Mars. He was that serious and excited about space travel. More recently, he began to forge knives. He fell in love with knife making and worked diligently to teach himself how to hand forge through the internet and many, many hours of talking to his little Brother Kaleb. He also loved movies, to the point where he could have been a movie critic! His Momma knew everything about a movie before she ever saw it. He had 2 dogs, a cat, and 2 big tortoises he raised from babies. He loved every kind of food and was awesome at cooking crawfish. He had such a loud, obnoxious, laugh, that his Momma would always tell him that she would never sit next to him in a movie theater and then warn all of his friends about that laugh. He was also a pool shark. He carried his pool stick in a pink case so no one would steal it and so that no one would think he was actually a pool shark. When he was in the Marine Corp, he had a pink phone case, pink towels, pink camera, pink everything. He knew that no other Marine would ever take any of his things. He was right.
Jonathon had a ginormous heart bigger than anyone we have ever known. He would help anyone, anytime, anywhere. I remembered being with him once, when he took off a brand new pair of red sneakers and gave them to a homeless man. He had no shoes and had to walk a long time...but that was Jonathon. He was the kind of person that we all thought would live forever. Simple acts of kindness were a part of his everyday life. This was a Son that sent his Momma a text message every single morning and night telling her how much he loved her. Whenever he would leave her, he always blew her kisses. Not once did he miss doing that to her. When people are asked about Jonathon was...they always say that he was a respectful, gracious and kind gentleman. He was “Yes Ma’am/Yes Sir” and “Please and Thank You” always. He made his family proud .... he overcame numerous obstacles and tragedies in his life to die a senseless, sudden death at such a young age of 32. Let us pray that with time, we can begin to understand why a young man, who had everything to live for, had to be taken so quickly from us. We Pray that we all can learn to come together from his sudden death and feel his light. Once when he was visiting his Great Grandmother Mary Kay, he had a life-changing moment. She had a stroke and was unable to speak. her care-takers got her a push key typewriter to communicate with. In her typewriter, he found a piece of paper that had been pecked at, typed that said “Jonathon is great”. He was Great! He left behind a legacy of love. His nickname by his Momma was “Beautiful Boy” and that says everything about his heart.
He was preceded in death by his maternal grandparents: Marylyn Yvonne Rogers Reed and Gene Russell Reed; Great-grandmother, Mary Kathlyn Ash, and Paternal grandparents: Jo Ruth Kerr and James Braeden Kerr. Survivors include his mother, Kathlyn Elizabeth Kerr and father, James B. Kerr; Sister, Tiffany Elizabeth Promise and partner Matthew Francis Mispagel; brother, Kaleb Rogers Kerr; niece: Posey Mispagel-Promise (due any moment); Aunts/ Uncles on Mother’s Side: Rosslyn Reed Alexander and Tommy Alexander, Dayna Reed Manning, Gena Reed Tadewald and Ken Tadewald, Mary Kay Yvonne Reed Bair and Robert Bair; Cousins: Marylyn Alexander Reed, Jason Alexander, Kevin Alexander, Jessica Bair, Jared Bair, Katherine Manning, Ryan Manning, Reed Stanley, Victoria Tadewald, and Meredith Grace Tadewald; Aunts/Uncles on Fathers side: Becky Kerr Dykes and Clayton Dykes, Sherry Corum and Tim Corum, BJ Kerr Peevy and Brett Peevy, Ivan H. Kerr and Angela Jones Kerr; and numerous other family members.
SERVICES Memorial Services to Celebrate Jonathon’s life will be held at 7:00 PM on Saturday, June 10th under a Majestic Oak Tree on the family ranch located at 250 Kott Rd., Fredericksburg, Texas 78624 with a reception to follow. For personal acknowledgement, you may sign the online guestbook at www.missionparks.com in the obituary section. Arrangements with: MISSION PARK FUNERAL CHAPELS 23755 US HWY 281 NORTH SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78258 210-576-3377