Sharon Endsley Kerr

Remembering Sharon Endsley Kerr

Sharon Endsley Kerr, 76, passed away peacefully on April 24, 2007 at her home in La Quinta, CA.

Sharon was born on May 1, 1930, the first child of Percie and Garnetta Endsley, at home in rural Richfield, UT. Her birth on the family’s kitchen table presaged a lifetime love of cooking (and entertaining) for which she was well known and will be fondly remembered.

Sharon grew up in Glendale, CA, with her brother “Skip” (Percie Daniel Endsley, Jr.), who passed away there in 2003. Sharon attended Hoover High School and the University of Southern California, where she joined the Alpha Chi Omega sorority.

Shortly after her graduation from USC in 1952, Sharon wed Jack Keith Samuels. In the couple’s two children, Keith (Jack Keith Samuels II) of Los Angeles and Shelley Samuels Hutchison of Irvine, CA, one sees their mother’s outsized love of life.

In 1976, Sharon married the late Daniel P. Kerr of Grass Valley, CA. Danny dubbed his five foot tall bride “little package” and the name stuck. It later became Sharon’s “nom de plume” for countless e-mail exchanges with her friends and family during the later years.

Danny’s two adult children, Daniel R. Kerr of Tahoe Vista, CA and Cathy J. Kerr of Aspen, CO, were dear to their stepmother. They were together with her, Keith and Shelley in the final days of her life.

She is survived by her four children, her three grandchildren (Samantha Jane Samuels, Parker Endsley Hutchison and Patrick Blair Hutchison), her aunt, Betty Timpson of Leucadia,CA and her sister in law, Diane (Mrs. Skip) Endsley of Glendale, CA.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a memorial gift in her name to one of the groups that Sharon contributed to so tirelessly: The Joslyn Cove Community Senior Center “Meals on Wheels” program, USC Panhellenic, the Trojan Club, the Trojan League and the USC chapter of Alpha Chi Omega.