Lou (Coker) Kerr, the daughter-in-law of late U.S. Sen. Robert S. Kerr and a nationally known civic leader and philanthropist, died Thursday after an extended illness. She was 87.
Born in 1937 in the Capitol Hill area of Oklahoma City, she was one of 10 children. In high school she worked as a waitress, floral designer and bookkeeper. Kerr graduated from Capitol Hill School in 1955 and later earned a bachelor’s degree in education and health from Oklahoma City University. As a teenager, she raised money to establish a youth center at her Methodist church in south Oklahoma City and, in 1969, with a $25,000 loan, she opened a clothing store in Shepherd Mall.
She married Robert S. Kerr Jr. in 1972.
Kerr Jr. was the son of Oklahoma Gov. and U.S. Sen. Robert S. Kerr. Sen. Kerr was a national powerbroker in office and was once described by media outlets as “The Uncrowned King of the United…
