Alan Kerr, 84, passed away on January 18, 2020. Alan retired in 2001 from the Providence Journal where he edited the automotive and travel sections, a happy combination of his love of cars and road trips.

Alan was born into the news industry in 1935 in Berlin, Germany. He was the son of foreign correspondent Melvin K. Whiteleather and Eleanor Lindsay Whiteleather. As a six-month-old infant Alan made news as the youngest person to fly on the Hindenburg.

Alan returned to the US in 1941, speaking better German and Italian than English. He graduated from Washington’s Woodrow Wilson High School in 1954. After serving three years in the Army, he enrolled at UNC-Chapel Hill. As he prepared to enter college, Alan took a speed writing class and met Jessie Parry-Hill. In 1958, they married after a year’s courtship. After graduating from the UNC School of Journalism in 1961, Alan supported Jessie as she completed her undergraduate work at UNC.

Alan began his career as a reporter at the Durham Morning Herald. He held successive positions as a writer, editor and manager at the Charlotte Observer, Greensboro Daily News, and News of Orange County. After a decade as a newspaperman, Alan enrolled in the master’s program in journalism at the University of Florida and graduated in 1978. Alan worked in academe as a professional advisor to the student newspaper of the University of Florida, the Alligator. He taught journalism at Northern Arizona University and was the faculty advisor to the Lumberjack student newspaper.

Alan returned to the newsroom in 1979 and finished his career at the Providence Journal. For forty years, Alan chronicled the big and small news of his time. In 1969, Alan and a reporter crouched in a phone booth to avoid gunfire and called in the story of the NC A&T Disturbances. While working as the auto editor in Providence, he took great pleasure in test-driving cars through “the curves of hell” at the I-295 and Route 6 interchange. He wrote about how well test cars hugged the road, usually at higher-than-posted speed limits.

Alan is survived by his wife of 61 years, Jessie, son and daughter-in-law Jason and Janet, daughter Mandy and his canine companion, Freddy.

In lieu of flowers consider a donation to the University of Florida School of Journalism or any organization that supports Alan’s principles of professional, ethical journalism. Alan’s family is grateful for the support of their friends and relatives, the Community Church of Providence and the care Alan received at Bethany Home. Services and burial are private.

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J F Skeffington Funeral Home
925 Chalkstone Avenue
Providence, RI 02908
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