Erma Dean Kerr, age 87 of Huntsville passed away Oct. 7, 2018.

Mrs. Kerr is survived by her husband Jack F. Kerr; daughter Susan Kerr; sons Michael Kerr (Cindy), Daniel Kerr, and Steven Kerr; grandchildren Zac Kerr (Nicole), Jessica Brannon (Stephen), Justin Kerr (Alicia), and Chase Kerr (Jamie); great-grandchild Ellie B. Brannon.

She was preceded in death by her parents Hosea and Velma Swinford, brother Eldridge Swinford, and sister Maggie Ruth Posey.

Visitation is Wed. Oct. 10, 2018, 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. at Berryhill Funeral Home, followed by the funeral service at 2:00 p.m. officiated by Pastor Robert Burns.  Burial will be in Huntsville Memory Gardens.

The following is a short message delivered by Cindy Kerr, at the beginning of the funeral service.

Good afternoon,                                                                                              October 10, 2018

I am Cindy Kerr, daughter-in-law of Jack and Erma. I would like for you to sit back and relax as we travel through 87 years, in hopefully 8 minutes.

Erma Dean Swinford was born on Sept. 9, 1931 on Eldridge, her brother's, 8 ^th birthday. Her parents were Hosea and Velma Beddingfield Swinford. She was the third child of 6: Eldridge, Maggie Ruth, Erma, Dorothy Ann, Vivian, and Carol. These Children were born over a span of 27 years. Her mother Velma became ill and passed away in 1956 at the age of 49. This was a life changing event for Erma. Carol was only 6 and Vivian was 15.

One of Erma's earliest memories goes back to 1936, when a storm came up and her father insisted that the family leave the home and go to Grampa Swinford's home. She remembered being swung between her daddy and big brother as they walked about a mile through the field. She said Aunt Dorothy Ann was a baby. The lightning was fierce. The next morning her daddy and Uncle Bud walked over and the house was gone, blown away by a cyclone. The only thing left was a dresser sitting on the porch.

When she was 6 years old they moved to Alabama and their first home, in Hazel Green, was on the opposite corner of where Wal-Mart stands today at the intersection of Charity Lane and Highway 231. She attended school in the Hazel Green area. When she got old enough, she decided to move to Huntsville, where she got a job working at the Snow White, which is now known as Krystal. Erma boarded in downtown and soon after she met a young, handsome soldier, Jack, and fell in love.

They married in March 1951, in Iuka, Mississippi. Jack was still in the Army and decided to get out and have amore stable family life. He considered moving up north, but got a job here in Huntsville with Morton Thiokol, who made rocket engines. In 1953, Jack & Erma's first child, Susan was born. Then along came the rest of their kids over the next several years, Michael, Danny, and Steven.

When Erma's mother died, she started going to the Westlawn Church of God in 1956. Erma recalled that as a child, older ministers of the Church of God, Bro. Noah Mason, and Bro. CJ Weaver would come to their home and hold church services under the trees out in the country at Hazel Green. She remembered these services as she got older and God spoke to her heart.

Jack is from Pennsylvania and every year, Jack and Erma and the kids, went to a family reunion to see Jack's parents and 9 brothers and sisters and families, which is where Jack's niece Karen, met Erma, who had a lasting effect on Karen. On Monday, as I spoke with Karen, she said that Aunt Erma was so different from anyone she had met. Her parents went to church some but they were not the same as Aunt Erma. Even though, Erma was in her late 20's, she made such an impression on Karen that she still remembers it 60 years later. As Erma read them bible stories, Karen said that it was like God speaking to them through the bible stories. Karen said that still remains with her. I am sure that Erma was a little bit out of her comfort zone, but she did not know what great things she was accomplishing in life.

I often told Erma how blessed she was to have lived almost 40 years past her mother's age. She was very sickly in her 40's but God allowed her to get well enough to do many things and see her family grow and blossom, which included 4 grandchildren, Zac, Jessica, Just, and Chase, and a great-granddaughter, EllieBee Brannon.

The Beddingfield family was musically inclined, so Erma and Aunt Ruth were often invited to sing at various functions and they sang on the radio. Before I knew the family, I remember hearing 2 ladies sing in church with a unique style of singing and they were often accompanied by a violin or an accordion. One of the songs that they often sang was, " Oh I want to see him Look upon his face, There to sing forever of his saving grace On the streets of Glory Let me lift my voice, Cares All Passed home at last ever to rejoice."

Erma loved helping others, sharing, baking peach pound cakes, no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies and making Aunt Erma's Sweet Tea for the Pennsylvania Clan. She loved working in the yard, planting flowers and working at the church. Jack was often her helper working on the outside and was also her driver.

In the past several years, Erma enjoyed going on trips, especially with her sisters. I was usually the chauffeur and in September 2001, we went to Nashville to stay at the Opryland Hotel. As we stopped to pick up each sister, everyone brought a suitcase and a bag of food. Peanut Butter, Bread, Jelly and Crackers. When we got to Aunt Carol's to pick her up, I asked her if she brought food and she said, "Yes, Peanut Butter, Jelly, Bread and Crackers.". I said, "Leave it all at home- We will share with you!" (There was probably Little Debbies too.) At the hotel, we got lost while looking for our room, and here we were carrying our suitcases and all these sacks and bags full of food through the hotel! We felt that people were staring at us, looking bewildered. We checked out and went down the road to the Quality Inn Airport. That night Erma and Aunt Dot were sleeping, Vivian and Carol were nervous and still awake. I was over in the corner asleep when at about 3AM a plane took of with a sonic boom and we woke up to Vivian and Carol shouting, "We've been bombed! We've been bombed!", We checked out that day and came home with an experience that we'll never forget.

I am going to fast forward to the past 2 weeks. Erma was under hospice care and taking less medication. She went from Saturday night September 30, until Wednesday, October 3, without any medication. I went into her room, picked up a hymnal and started singer to her. There was little response. Dena, our family friend, came in and I asked what church song she liked. Dena said "The Old Rugged Cross". Dena left the room and I started singing "The Old Rugged Cross". Erma started singing and mouthing the words with me! After2 verses, I ran and got Dena. She came in and we started singing again with Erma. We sang many of the old hymns with her for about an hour. Occasionally, a squeak would come out. This was from a woman who had possibly had a stroke earlier in the week and could hardly speak understandably. But what is in the heart comes out. These past few weeks have been a special time. At this time, we will have the song "The Old Rugged Cross".