Birth date: Oct 24, 1935 Death date: Apr 21, 2017
Robert 'Bob' Dann Kerr, age 81, of Gainesville passed away Friday, April 21, 2017 at HarborChase of Gainesville. He was born October 24, 1935 in Cambridge, MA to Henry F. and Cora E. Dann Kerr. Bob was an avid Gator fan and enjoye Read Obituary
Bob was always there you, a great ear, listening, but never judging. He will greatly missed!
I used to see Bob and Jackie at Ballyhoo Grill. I didn't know them, just saw them. They would come in almost every day, you know like real regulars. Ballyhoo is sort of the neighborhood place, like "Cheers", where you could always count on seeing your friends, and making new ones. I didn't get to know Bob until after Jackie passed after a sudden illness. I would see Bob come in for Happy Hour, sitting at the bar by himself. I had heard that Jackie had died. He seemed so alone, that one day I went and sat next to him and started a conversation. I knew he was a big Gator Baseball fan and so we started talking about that. Just casual bar conversation. The next day I saw him again and we sat and talked more. He opened up about his recent loss, how it was so unexpected and all. I got him talking about his life, how he was from Massachusetts, had played hockey in high school and his college days in Providence, RI. Going home on the weekends on the back of a scooter. He said he was always the smallest guy on the teams, but had a lot of talent. Knowing he was in the era of the Draft, I asked him if he had served. He told me about his Army days in France in the 50's, driving around in a truck transporting material and goods. He said it was easy duty, mostly sleeping, drinking, smoking. a very relaxed time. He had been married previously to Betty Kerr, who had worked at the Gainesville Sun in the Classified Ad Department. I had known Betty from my days in radio advertising. We talked about that a bit, how they used to have hot tub and pool parties. Some really good stories. We would meet every day, he would call me or I would call him to see when we would be there, he would always come to join me. Once when he was getting his tax records together he told me that Jackie had written a check to Ballyhoo everyday, $40, $50,or so. I told him Ballyhoo didn't take checks. We figured out it was the debit card that she used to pay their tab. There was one bartender in particular that Bob really loved, her name was Contessa, Tess for short. We would always sit near the service bar where she worked so Bob could chat with her. She was so cute and really took great care of Bob and made him feel so special. She really liked him. She would always give him one or two extra. Bob would tip her a $20 bill. It wasn't the tip that she liked, it was Bob, she sincerely liked him.When she moved out of town, it was at a big loss for him. Bob had many friends, he talked a lot about a woman lady friend lawyer he had worked with for years. He had a neighbor lady and her daughter that he thought much about. He had a brother who was ex-military, who lived up North and wintered in the Tampa area, He knew so many people and often they would come up to him while we were sitting at Ballyhoo and chat him up. Everybody liked Bob. Although he did have some other opinions on some of the people he knew.
Oh, yes, he had a cat, Madonna, whom he always talked about.
One day, Bob told me that Jackie was going to divorce him. I said I didn't think that that was going to happen. He was adamant about it. It was a very sad day for me. I didn't know how to act, ask, say or do. But I realized that what we all fear about ourselves as we age was beginning to happen to Bob. We kept on meeting at Ballyhoo, but one day he told me his brother wanted to move him out of the house and into a adult assisted living facility. He and his cat moved in to Harborchase, off of Fort Clark Blvd. I would visit him there, it was a small room, but he had his TV and his cat. We would walk around the grounds, a very nice place. Then Bob stopped taking my calls, not wanting me to come by. He had a new circle of friends, maybe. I don't know. I never saw Bob again. I think about him often. Wishing I could have been a better friend and with him at the end. Bob, you were loved by many and will always be in our memories. Thanks for the friendship.
Your pal, Jack Edmonds
I remember the "truck people" having an Easter Egg dying contest on Easter Sunday at a Gator baseball game. Bob and Al Hall won. They had stopped at Publix for supplies on their way in and seeing the Easter Egg display talked the deli manager into selling them the professionally dyed eggs as the store would no longer need them.
I'm sure many great memories will appear here as Bob was a great guy.
Bob Franks
