Who's Who in America Selects Walter B. Kerr of Blairsville

Walter B. Kerr has been selected by the staff of Who's Who in America to be included in its forthcoming 2008 publication. Mr. Kerr lived in Murphy, N.C. from 1992 until 2006 at which time he moved to Blairsville, Ga. Who's Who profiles the country's most accomplished men and women from across all fields of endeavor. Mr. Kerr's education and accomplishments have qualified him for inclusion in this prestigious publication.

Mr. Kerr was educated in Utah and California. He completed a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Utah in 1955. He completed a Master's Degree in International Business at the University of Southern California in 1972. He has done graduate work in advanced mathematics, languages and business administration at Florida State University; Northeastern University, Mass.; the University of Geneva, Switzerland and the University of Madrid, Spain.

Mr. Kerr has been involved with the designing, developing, testing and manufacturing of a wide range of products. He has been involved with heavy truck air and electrical systems, industrial electrical heaters, sound systems, the Poseidon submarine launch intercontinental ballistic missile, the Minuteman ICBM, the Polaris ICBM, the Pegasus missile for launching spacecraft from an aircraft, and the Surveyor spacecraft which made the first soft exploratory landings on the moon in preparation for the manned landings. His engineering contributions were made at Hughes Aircraft Company, Rockwell International, Volvo White Truck Corporation, Pacific Chromalox, Spectra Sonics, and Hercules Incorporated. His work took place at Los Angeles, Calif.; Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.; Otis Air Force base, Mass.; Davis- Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Cape Canaveral, Fla. He is interested in asteroids whose orbit crosses the orbit of the earth and he has a display of these orbits in the Young Harris College Planetarium.

In addition to his design and development work with weapons that protected our country during wartime, Mr. Kerr served his country in the military during World War II and the Korean War. During these conflicts he maintained and taught others to maintain radar, sonar and aircraft weapons' control systems.

He actively promotes good English. He was a member of the Society for the Advancement of Good English (SAGE) where his Pocket Guide for Good English was distributed worldwide to friends and members of the society. He is also active in the Society for the Preservation of English Language and Literature (SPELL). SPELL members work with newspapers, magazines, TV and radio to preserve good English. He founded the Society for Alphanumeric Improvement (SANI) to clean up the alphabet to reduce confusion in letter and number characters. He is also the author of the Correct Corner, a column encouraging good grammar that appeared in the Cherokee Scout for three years.

He has done more than practice engineering in his life. As the "Jester" he juggled and entertained audiences from coast to coast in the U.S. and Europe. He has entertained at hospitals, nursing homes, grade schools, high schools, universities, shopping centers, churches and private groups. He is also a kite-flying enthusiast. He has made and flown kites and has sponsored kite-flying events all over the country. He is involved in music and is presently sings with the High Country Harmonizers of Blairsville. He is also a tennis player. He has played in tournaments all around the country and in 2006 was ranked nationally in the 80 and over group. He was ranked #1 in North Carolina for part of 2006 and was #8 in the nine-state Southern Region of the United States Tennis Association.

He has not omitted the spiritual side of life. He is active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons). He has held many positions of responsibility and served a proselyting mission for 2-1/2 years in France, Belgium and Switzerland.