Kerner

Elizabeth Brewer Kerner, 91, died on Sunday, February 5, 2023 at her home at The Colonnades in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her family by her side.
Born March 13, 1931 in Richmond, Virginia, she was the daughter of Helen B. Brewer and Andrew E. Brewer. She was preceded in death by her husband, Bill.
Betty was educated at Thomas Jefferson High School and at Wellesley College, where she served as President of the College Chapel Association. Following her graduation in 1952, she worked at the University of Denver, then returned east to work at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she met her roommate Dorothy’s brother, William Kerner. Betty and Bill were married in 1955, and the two moved to Bethlehem, Pa. that autumn where Bill enrolled in Moravian Theological Seminary. Their first child, Will, was born there in March 1956. The couple lived in Pomfret, Conn., Richmond, Va. and Charlottesville during an interregnum in Bill’s graduate studies, and their second son Thane arrived in July 1961. Following Bill’s completion of his Divinity Degree he became pastor at Providence Moravian Church, near Winston-Salem, N.C., where daughter Hilary was born in 1963.
In 1965, Bill returned to active duty as a Chaplain, an appointment that would allow Betty and the children to live and learn in a variety of places as far-flung as Newport, Rhode Island; Grosse Ile, Michigan; Naples, Italy; and New London, Connecticut. Betty became an active tennis player in each of the communities they joined, and found the sport to be a socially and athletically fulfilling method for making new friends despite her family’s peripatetic lifestyle.
Betty and Bill settled in Richmond, Va., following Bill’s retirement from the Navy in 1982. While Betty found time to work in the Trust Tax Division of SunTrust Bank, she did not allow career to interfere with the couple’s first love: they traveled around the world again, their love of educational and cultural adventure leading them to a year in Jerusalem, and subsequently to places they’d missed during the years of military service, including among others China, Turkey, and South Africa, the latter of which Betty proclaimed (Capetown, specifically) to be the most beautiful place she’d ever been.
Throughout her life, arts and culture were central interests that animated Betty’s experience. She was a dedicated and active patron of the performing and visual arts. She and Bill enjoyed countless lectures and performances over their many summers visiting the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York. Back home in Richmond, Betty was an active member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, where she served as a Stephen Minister and was a spirited volunteer for a variety of social efforts, including St. Pauls’ Woodville tutoring program, and Meals-on-Wheels.
Betty was a strong, principled, faithful person whose grace and kindness was a gift to everyone she encountered. She was unfailingly welcoming, open, and interested in every person, regardless of circumstance or situation. She spent her final decade-and-a-half living in Charlottesville, close to her children and grandchildren, a faithful member of her second St. Paul’s (in Charlottesville).
Betty is survived by her daughter Hilary Kerner, daughter-in-law Carolyn Shears, and grandson Langston Kerner-Shears, of Charlottesville; her son Will Kerner, daughter-in-law Lea Marshall, and grandson Charlie Petres, of Richmond; her son Thane Kerner, daughter-in-law Loaina Kerner, and granddaughter Luciana Kerner, of Charlottesville and New York, N.Y.; her sister-in-law, Dorothy Per-Lee, of Atlanta; her nieces Cynthia Per-Lee, Anne Porr, Anna Smith, and Cheri McCoy, and nephews Phil Per-Lee and John H. Per-Lee, Jr., as well as nine grand-nieces and grand-nephews.
There will be a memorial service celebrating Betty’s life at 11 a.m. on Friday, February 24, 2023 at St. Paul’s Memorial Church at 1700 University Avenue in Charlottesville. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests you make a contribution to the Charlottesville Food Bank, or the School of Education & Human Development at the University of Virginia.