Jerry Kerbow's Dream Came True

Eloise Lane

The obituary of Gerald Talley "Jerry" Kerbow ( in The Pampa News on April 27, 2005) did not mention that he instigated the landscaping project that has beautified the campus of Pampa High School and added to the attractions of the City of Pampa. Through the years Jerry made numerous trips from his busy life in Houston to be with his parents, especially during their declining years. In the summer of 1989, while visiting his parents' graves in Fairview Cemetery, he looked across Duncan Street and saw that the high school campus grounds were barren and un- kept. There were a few trees by the music area and a large expanse of grass similar to the grounds plowed and planted by boys in 1943-44, the year Jerry was a senior. It became his dream and desire to undertake a landscaping project to beautify the high school campus. He paid a landscape artist to draw a plan with several different kinds of trees and bulbs. He called a meeting of his 1944 classmates still living at Pampa to carry out his plan. Committees were formed, commitments were made and a drive for funds began. Whenever the drive stalled for any reason, Jerry made many trips and phone calls to Pampa to renew efforts. When the drive, spearheaded by the late J. David Fatheree, had been completed, an amount in excess of $42,000 had been collected to use for landscaping, maintenance and replacement. A marker placed near the walkway leading to the main entrance of the school building lists contributors to the landscaping project.

(Use the inscription on the marker here-- unless it is used with the picture or in a box by itself. Now anyone passing the high school building or looking out of any south window of the building can see the fulfillment of Jerry Kerbow's dream.

(With appreciation to Julia Dawkins and Ruth Barrett, members of the class of 1944.

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