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- Benjamin E. Kersh
Services for Benjamin Edward Kersh, 89, of Palestine will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Herrington Land of Memory Chapel with the Rev. Alan Van Hooser officiating. Burial will follow at Strongs Cemetery under the direction of Herrington Land of Memory Funeral Home.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight at the funeral home.
Pallbearers will be James Weaver, Calvin Nicholson, David Weaver, Robert Kersh, Shawn O'Connor, Keith Matthews, Jimmy Lucas and Roger Ray. Honorary pallbearers will be nephews.
Mr. Kersh left this world on Monday to join our Lord and his beloved wife of 54 years, Mary C. "Mae" Patterson Kersh and his other family members who have preceded him in death.
Mr. and Mrs. Kersh were married in Anderson County on Dec. 16, 1948.
Mr. Kersh leaves to cherish his memory one daughter, Kathryn Kersh Nicholson and her husband Calvin Wayne Nicholson of Palestine and a stepdaughter, Helen Bostick Weaver and her husband James William Weaver of Junction; two brothers, Rayford M. Kersh of San Antonio and Swanner N. Kersh of Jacksonville; and a sister, Alveda S. Brunette of Rhinelander, Wis.; five grandchildren, David Weaver, Melody Weaver Finley, Jennifer O'Connor Matthews, Shawn Patrick O'Connor and Stephanie O'Connor Lucas; eight great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, two daughters, Mary Jane Bostick Hobbs and Carolyn Jean Kersh; sisters, Viola Eloise Kersh and Mae Kersh Owens, Minnie Lee Ray, and Laura LaRue, Irene Pharris and Alma Schulte; and brothers, Desmond R. Kersh and Wilson Kersh.
Mr. Kersh was born Feb. 12, 1914 in Tenaha to Robert Lee Kersh and Sisley McKay Kersh. He was raised in Salmon. He was a member of Pisgah Baptist Church. He was an avid gardener and he entertained with his guitar at nursing homes for many years. He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3907, National Association of Federal Employees and a life member of the Disabled American Veterans.
Mr. Kersh is a descendant of Lutheran immigrants who fled Zuzenhausen, German, due to religious persecution landing in Charleston, S.C. in 1744. The Kersh family settled in Orangeburg District there until traveling by wagon train with other families from the area to Rankin County, Miss. in 1828. Just prior to the Civil War and immediately following it, Mr. Kersh's grandfather and his two great-uncles, Enos and Ezra Kersh, relocated their families to Anderson County where they raised their families as farmers and railroad men. The Kershes were God-fearing people, a close-knit family with deep religious conviction and an exemplary work ethic.
Mr. Kersh's military career took him to many locations, among them, Victoria where he was stationed at Foster Field Air Force Base in the 1950s. Following his retirement from the Air Force he worked for Burns Detective Agency as a security officer at the carbide plant and two years later went to work for the U.S. Post Office as a mail carrier. Upon his retirement from the post office in 1971, Mr. and Mrs. Kersh moved back to Anderson County where they both grew up and became sweethearts.
From the 1700s until the present time, a member of this family has proudly served in the armed forces in every conflict that this nation has been involved in, on our own soil as well as overseas. Mr. Kersh served his country in the United State Air Force for 20 years and retired in 1958 as a Master Sergeant and hangar chief assigned to the 27th Consolidated line Maintenance Squadron at Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, N.M. He first enlisted in the Air Corps in 1940. In 1942 he participated in the transportation of 33 bombers to the Chinese Air Force and stated in the China-Burma-India Theater as a member of the 341st Bomb Group. He returned to the U.S. in 1944 and was assigned to Walla Walla Army Field in Washington until the close of the war. Following various statewide assignments after World War II, Master Sgt. Kersh served in Japan from Jan. 1953 until March 1954.
Among his eight great-grandchildren are his namesakes, Benjamin Keith Matthews and Braden Edward O'Connor.
He's gone to worlds above where Saints and angels meet, to realize our Savior's love and worship at his feet.
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1914 - 2003 (89 years)
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