[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 109 (Thursday, September 7, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1672]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO NANCY KERR

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                        HON. JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR.

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 7, 2006

  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, Nancy Kerr, the founder of the first hospice 
program in Tennessee, was killed in a tragic accident on May 1.
  I knew Nancy Kerr for a big part of my life. She was a staunch 
conservative and a strong supporter of both my late father and me.
  She did not just talk about compassionate conservatism; she lived it.
  She comforted more than 500 patients as they neared death and was 
doing this right up to the day of her death at age 80.
  She was a wonderful woman, and this Nation is a better place today 
because of the love and kindness she gave to so many.
  Sam Brown, a friend of mine, wrote a great article about Nancy Kerr 
for the August 27 edition of The Knoxville News-Sentinel.
  I would like to call this article to the attention of my colleagues 
and other readers of the Record.

   Nurses's World War II Work Laid Foundation for Future Hospice Care

                             (By Sam Brown)

       It could have been a Hollywood movie.
       She was a young, stunningly beautiful English nurse who 
     cared for wounded British and American troops in World War 
     II. Several dying soldiers called her an angle. Some said she 
     looked like Katharine Hepburn. She was 18 and a student nurse 
     when Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France. 
     She remembers D-Day well, comforting many wounded and dying 
     soldiers who were brought back from the front lines. After 
     the war, she married Jim Kerr of Knoxville after saying she 
     would never marry an American. She became the first hospice 
     nurse in the state of Tennessee.
       This is not a Hollywood script. It is the story of Nancy 
     Wilkie Kerr.
       She was born near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where she spoke 
     Malay and Chinese before she learned English. Kerr was 13 in 
     Southhampton, England, when World War II started. She lived 
     through German bombing raids and recalled when three British 
     Spitfires flew up to meet 20 German bombers. The air raid 
     sirens and the screams of the wounded were etched in her 
     memory. She wanted to help, so she became a nurse. During the 
     war, she worked 12-hour shifts for six weeks and got two days 
     off. Kerr once said, ``I look in the face of death every 
     day.''
       It was invaluable experience for what was ahead in her 
     life.
       In 1979, Kerr helped establish the first hospice program at 
     Fort Sanders Hospital. It was also the first program of its 
     kind in Tennessee.
       I was anchoring television news for Channel 6 in 1979 and 
     heard about the hospice program. It intrigued me. I had never 
     heard of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, who founded the concept in 
     England. Hospice is a medieval term meaning a stopping-off 
     point for weary travelers.
       In 1969, Kubler-Ross wrote the book ``On Death and Dying.'' 
     She presented the premise that the terminally ill go through 
     various stages from denial to acceptance as death closes in. 
     Hospice allows them to face death with dignity. Hospice tries 
     first and foremost to relieve pain with medication, to 
     prepare the patient for death both mentally and physically 
     and, if possible, to let the patient die peacefully at home.
       Kerr felt the terminally ill should not die in a sterile 
     hospital room. In a span of 25 years, she comforted more than 
     500 families as their loved ones went through the stages of 
     death with dignity. Shortly after the Knoxville program 
     started, I did a two-part TV series on hospice with Kerr.
       She told me, ``You become a definite part of each family 
     with which you work. Of course you get emotionally involved, 
     but we try to aim for what we call a `good death' where they 
     are tranquil and accepting. No joyous or euphoric but rather 
     accepting.''
       Kerr died in May at the age of 80, just before her death, 
     she was still doing what she did best--nursing the sick and 
     terminally ill. And comforting their families. The tributes 
     poured in at her funeral.
       Patty Loveday wrote in the guest book, ``She helped us 
     through two long months of Mother's illness. We could never 
     have brought Mother home without her. She was truly a 
     wonderful nurse. We felt like she was part of the family,''
       Nancy's number three son, Chris and his wife, Karen, carry 
     on her legacy with their company. Tender Hearts Support 
     Services, which provides companionship for the elderly with a 
     hospice approach. ``We are trying to keep Mother's mission 
     alive. She was truly a remarkable woman,'' Chris Kerr said.
       Ironically, Nancy Kerr did not die in a hospice 
     environment. On the afternoon of May 1, 2006, she was killed 
     instantly in an auto accident on Alcoa Highway.
       A friend at her funeral perhaps said it best. ``Heaven has 
     gained a new angel.''

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