Debra Kerr Wilkinson

Debra Kerr Wilkinson

1957 ~ 2024

Debra Kerr Wilkinson 67, passed away quietly at home in Alpine, UT the morning of June 20, 2024, after courageously fighting endometrial cancer for almost 2 years.

Debbi was born in Preston, Idaho on February 17, 1957, to Larry Bailey Kerr and Utahna Johnson Kerr. She was the 3rd of four girls in her family. Shortly thereafter the family moved to Portland, Oregon where her father was attending dental school. After her father graduated, the family moved to Gresham, Oregon where Debbi attended school from elementary through high school. She was very proud of being a Gresham Gopher, her fearsome high school mascot. She was very active in high school in choir, drama, debate the yearbook editor and was named Girl of the Year when she graduated. While in high school she took advantage of a cultural exchange program through the Rotary Club and spent a summer in Brazil. This seemed to be foreshadowing.

After high school she attended BYU and began majoring in accounting. After one semester she knew accounting was not for her and switched to Geography specializing in Travel and Tourism. This suited her much better as she ended up traveling all over the world while working for a travel agency and later taught in the Travel and Tourism major at BYU. While at BYU she also became certified as a ski instructor and taught skiing for BYU at Sundance where she ran into Robert Redford several times!

In the rest of her spare time, she took up sky diving and organized a group of friends to go skydiving. On this outing she became reacquainted with a young man by the name of Mark Wilkinson. As they got to know each other they found that they enjoyed many of the same activities. They enjoyed snow and water skiing, motorcycle riding, Lake Powell and cliff jumping as well as traveling and Mark had served a mission in Brazil! Mark and Debbi began dating. Little did Mark know that Debbi had put in her papers to go on a mission and was awaiting a call! One night coming home from a date Debbi had to explain the situation to a shocked Mark as she had received a call to Portugal! After much soul searching, they decided that they had fallen in love and decided to get married instead and the rest is history!

After Debbi and Mark finished their degrees at BYU, they moved to Santa Monica, CA for a couple of years where Debbi worked in a travel agency that did the travel arrangements for the Los Angeles Lakers. They then moved back to SLC for graduate school and back to Northern California for a job. Both of their sons Matthew and Jeffrey were born there in Los Gatos, CA and brought much joy to the family. They stayed in California for 10 years then moved to Sandy, UT for 10 years then finally to Alpine, UT where they have remained for the last 20 years. While in Alpine, Jeff met and married the smart and talented Elan Monson. They have 2 children, Theo 6, and Ember 3, who are the only 2 beloved grandkids! After moving to Alpine, Debbi pursued her love of teaching skiing at Brighton Ski Resort and of course she taught the children. Debbi and Mark continued to enjoy traveling with many trips to Hawaii and Mexico but most recently to Australia and New Zealand.

Debbi was preceded in death by her father Larry Kerr and is survived by her mother Utahna Kerr, sisters Becky (Jared) Nuffer, Shelly (John} Callister-Christopherson, Kathleen (Guy) Pribyl, husband Mark, their sons Matthew, Jeffrey (Elan) and grandson Theo and granddaughter Ember.

Debbi was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and enjoyed serving in many church callings, the latest as Relief Society President. Previous to that she worked in the Timpanogos Temple.

Debbi is loved by many and will be missed, and we look forward to seeing her smile and enjoying her laughter again. God be with us till we meet again.

There will be a celebration of Debbi’s life on Friday July 12, 2024, at 5:00 pm at the Alpine West Stake Center building located at 327 Long Drive in Alpine, Utah.