James D. Kerr was an engineer who decided he wanted to get involved and give back to his community.  In 1972, he purchased Allen Flower Shop for his wife, Carolyn. They were founding members of the Downtown Merchants Association now known as the Allen Fairview Chamber of Commerce.  He decided he wanted to be involved in the school district by running for Allen I.S.D. School Board.  James was elected as a Trustee in 1974 and served until 1998.  While serving, he was elected by his fellow Trustees to serve many years as an officer serving as Secretary, Vice President and President.  During his tenure, he was honored to be a part of the Board that received the 1985 Texas Association of School Administrators Outstanding School Board Award. His greatest honor was to be named as a namesake and opening James D. Kerr Elementary in 2000. 

James and Carolyn were high school sweethearts from Richardson, Texas.  They married and moved to Lubbock, Texas as Jim pursued his Bachelors and Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas Tech University. After a few years living back in Richardson, James and his wife Carolyn moved their family to Allen in search of good schools.  

One of James’ greatest projects was designing geophones for the moon!  Three of his geophones were left on the moon during the Apollo 14 mission to measure lunar shocks triggered from earth. For his work on moon condition measuring devices, James was named “Outstanding Young Engineer” of the year for the State of Texas in 1971. When they chose to name the mascot as the Kerr Comets, it seemed fitting.

James is the father of three sons David, Scott and Don and one daughter Ginger, all AHS graduates. He has 7 grandsons, 1 granddaughter, 2 great grandsons and 3 great granddaughters. James continues to operate Allen Flower Shop alongside his daughter, Ginger. Learning from their father on giving back, David and Ginger are current School Board Trustees in their local school districts.  

James saw much change over his 24 years on the Allen School Board and helped shape the District to what it is today.