President's Medal Awarded to Whitney E. Kerr Sr.

President’s Medal Awarded to Whitney E. Kerr Sr.

BY SCOTT QUEEN

Just after the Antebellum period in American history, a brick house was constructed on a hill just outside of Arrow Rock, Missouri. The year was 1869, and little did anyone know, Central Methodist University would be connected to the home more than 150 years later.

The Federal-style home was considered opulent at the time, since most people in the area lived in modest log homes. But fast-forward to about three years ago, and the stately home on 54 acres had fallen into disrepair.

That all changed when Whitney Kerr Sr. stepped in. Kerr, senior vice president at Cushman & Wakefield, owns a home in Arrow Rock and cares deeply about the community. Restoring the home to prior glory became a passion of his.

Kerr was approached to be the trustee of the property and said he would accept the appointment only if he served pro-bono. He also agreed to waive any real estate commissions. In October, he was appointed the trustee of the estate owning the property, and he learned it would eventually be owned by Central Methodist University, Union College in Kentucky, and the Order of Eastern Star. But if he didn’t get its structural integrity stabilized and other repairs made, the three would have nothing of value to inherit.

“I love Arrow Rock, and I’ve been coming here since I was a little boy,” Kerr said. “There are so few of these houses left, and I wasn’t going to let it crumble to the ground.”

Kerr’s restoration work is complete, and he says the house and 54.7 acres are going to two buyers “who have grand plans for the property.”

Little did Kerr know, but Central had grand plans for him. Because of his care for the Arrow Rock community and preservation of the house, President Roger Drake presented Kerr with the prestigious President’s Medal on October 9. It is the first time the medal has gone to someone who is not an alumnus of Central Methodist University.

“He took it upon himself to save this treasure,” Drake said during the presentation. “He handled the cleanup and restoration, the legal challenges of a complicated estate, and he found two loving buyers.”

Kerr, who is 88 years old, said he was honored to receive the award. He said his “reward was getting to meet so many great people at Central Methodist.”

Kerr still goes to work each day at Cushman & Wakefield, and he still remembers his early trips to Arrow Rock in the late 1930s when his parents would drive there from Kansas City for picnics.

“There was an old jail in town,” Kerr remembered. “And they always told me if I didn’t behave they would throw me in there.”

While Kerr has spent almost 65 years in the real estate business and is a well-known broker of commercial, industrial, and land property in Kansas City history, he has a strong tie to Central Methodist.

His mentor in the real estate business “Walter Campbell, a devout Methodist, was like a second father to me,” Kerr said. “And he was Bob Hodge’s father. And everybody at Central knows who Bob and Anna Mae Hodge are. The Ashby-Hodge Gallery (at Central) is one of a kind.”

Whitney Kerr is one of a kind as well.