Mary Ann DuMond Kerr

MARY ANN DuMOND KERR, age 84

Ice cream, shrimp, wine, and bridge cards are what Mary Ann packed in her cooler to take to heaven. These were the decadent things that would remind her of the laughter and great conversations with dear friends. On November 25, 2025, Mary Ann, 84, said good-bye to her adventurous, activist children, Laura (Diana Trujillo) and Daniel (Tatiana Belenkaya), her only beloved grandchild, Elsa Belenkaya Kerr, and her dear sister Diane Keech (Edward). She joined her adored husband, Douglas Kerr, who preceded her in death on April 2, 2025. They had been married for fifty-nine years.

Mary Ann grew up in Cobleskill, NY, daughter of Mary (Porter) and Lewis DuMond. After hearing stories about her mother's social work career, Mary Ann determined at age 5 to become a social worker. She was a Syracuse University junior in Florence, Italy, when she realized that she would never get to graduate school if she didn't turn away from adventure and people to spend more time in the library. She loved Smith College School for Social Work where she received her MSW spending three summers in academic studies and two winters in internships in Cleveland and Denver.

It was at Smith, behind a beer barrel at a graduation party, that she met Doug. He was visiting his sister and brother-in-law, who was one of her professors. What good fortune it was that she had taken a job at the Benjamin Rose Institute in Cleveland while he was in Cleveland finishing his MD, PhD at Western Reserve University. She loved his faint smile, twinkly eyes, and giant intellect. He adored her feisty spirit. Together, they learned more about the power of nonviolence as they marched for peace and civil rights. They embraced adventures as they collaborated to fight for social change. When they looked at each other, there was a twinkle in both of their eyes and love in their kisses.

In her 40 years as a clinical social worker, Mary Ann learned from her clients' resilience, resourcefulness and ability to connect. She worked with the elderly at Benjamin Rose Institute in Cleveland; mothers of malnourished children in Kingston, Jamaica; parents and children at MetroHealth Medical Center; patients and families at the Hemophilia Treatment Center at University Hospitals, UH Pediatric Nephrology Division, and private practice. She learned the value of teamwork from colleagues as, together, they built support and connections with patients, families, students, and other professionals. As president of the Ohio Clinical Social Work Society and board member of the national organization, she helped lobby for clinical social work licensing and insurance reimbursement.

On vacations the family backpacked and canoed through the lakes of Minnesota, Adirondacks, and climbed the Canadian Rockies. In retirement Mary Ann and Doug became involved with Palestinian Human Rights, traveling many times to the area to meet with Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers. Back home they helped organized fundraisers and speaking engagements to publicize the Israeli Government's apartheid treatment of Palestinian people.

Most of all, Mary Ann loved her adventurous family and dear friends from Church of the Redeemer, Coleridge Road, Judson Manor, Eye-Witness Palestine, high school, college, and the social work world.

A Celebration of Life will take place at Church of the Redeemer on December 27th at 11 am. A reception will follow at the Judson Manor Ballroom at 1 pm. She was grateful for her caregivers at University Hospitals, Judson Manor, and Hospice of the Western Reserve.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Church of the Redeemer, Eye-Witness Palestine, or ACLU Ohio.

Arrangements by MAHER-MELBOURNE FUNERAL HOME of Northeast Ohio www.MaherMelbourne.com