Jessie-Lynne Kerr

Jessie-Lynne Kerr, 73, of Jacksonville, FL passed away Thursday, April 28, 2011.

Jessie-Lynne Forrest was born and raised in Staten Island, N.Y. She attended the High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan. After high school, she spent a year at Hunter College in Manhattan. On Dec. 7, 1959, she began work as a reporter for the women’s section of the Staten Island Advance. Mrs. Kerr spent about three years at the Advance before she moved to Neptune Beach in 1963.

Later, Mrs. Kerr applied for a job with the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, FL and was hired, becoming the only woman working on the newspaper’s Metro staff when she went to work on March 9, 1964. The story that saved the Treaty Oak was the first of many that dramatically affected the community.

She was preceded in death by her oldest son, Adam; she is survived by her son, Jason Kerr of Jacksonville, FL and a sister, Carol Marriott Gibbons of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.

Memorial services will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday, May 7, 2011 at St. Johns Cathedral, 256 East Church Street, Jacksonville.

A Dignified Alternative-Hatcher Cremations (904) 260-2522